Lightning and Death
by CrazyClouds
Summary: Not much is known about the elusive Night Fury. For something called the "unholy offspring of lightning and death itself," there isn't really a lot of lightning. Plenty of death, though. Then again, that's probably just because nobody's ever seen it. Nobody knows the truth about Hiccup, either. A few shocking things are about to be revealed, not all of them harmless...
1. Chapter 1

A young man woke to the roar of beasts and the shouts of his people. His emerald pupils were revealed by pale, fluttering lids, and he brought his hands up to his freckled face to rub his eyes. The boy yawned quietly, before tossing his head to the side to get his somewhat long auburn hair out of his face.

He stood up, revealing a lanky, rather tall body. Since he fell asleep in his clothes, there was no need to get changed before leaving the house. He walked down the wooden stairs, to through the admittedly small living space, then threw open his front door. He strode out…

Only to stop when a massive flying lizard landed in front of him.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third sighed, as the Monstrous Nightmare- one of the deadliest dragons known to Berk- growled at him. The beast's eyes were narrowed in unrestrained fury, and it was breathing rather heavily. There were a few scars on its orange underbelly and face, a testament to the dragon's strength. It had obviously participated in previous raids, and had either escaped or fought off any Vikings which attempted to stop it.

Hiccup waved his hand at the dragon, in a gesture for it to get out of the way. He had places to be.

The creature, of course, did not listen. If anything, it seemed to spite the boy by crawling closer.

Hiccup's eyebrows knitted together in annoyance. Couldn't this dragon see that he had better things to do than square off with it?

The dragon ignored the boy's rising ire, scuttling closer and closer with every passing second. The Nightmare, unfortunately for it, made a grave mistake.

It got within arm's reach of Hiccup.

With a growl that did not sound very human, the young man lashed out with his left arm. His fist impacted with the Nightmare's nose before it could react, causing a dull, meaty noise to be heard. Such intense force was behind the boy's strike, that the dragon's head bounced off the ground. It reared back, overcompensating for being slammed into the dirt.

Smirking in grim accomplishment, Hiccup held his left arm out again, this time with the palm facing the beast.

Before the monster could register the human's actions, it felt a piercing pain in its exposed neck. Moments later, the Monstrous Nightmare slumped to the ground, dead. Crimson blood pooled around the quickly cooling corpse of the mighty dragon.

The boy had no weapon with which he could have dealt the fatal blow. Instead, the culprit was still lodged in the creature's neck.

A razor-sharp shard of rapidly melting ice.

* * *

 **A quick chapter, mostly to get the interest flowing. If you think this is a nice start, tell me in some way. A review or follow would work the best (I never understood the thing about favoriting incomplete stories. I usually only favorite completed ones).**

 **Normally, I would go on a short rant about how much you guys must hate me or something, but I've noticed my audience doesn't seem to care too much when I start a new story out of the blue. They seem to be happy, once I'm writing. That, or they simply don't feel like telling me they don't like, which I sort of appreciate. I don't enjoy being insulted or belittled, but some constructive criticism would be appreciated.**

 **Btw, how about that twist?**


	2. Chapter 2

After dealing with the nuisance that was the Monstrous Nightmare, Hiccup began to casually walk through the burning village of Berk. A few Vikings shouted at the boy, mostly in annoyance.

"Hiccup, what are ye doing!?"

"Boy, get back inside!"

"Hiccup, what do ye think- AH!"

That last one was cut off when a tail spike from a Deadly Nadder lodged itself in his skull. Hiccup watched as the corpse of one of his neighbors fell to the ground quietly. The boy's expression did not change.

Navigating his way through the fiery town by firelight (though he could have done it blindfolded), Hiccup reached the forge a few minutes after setting out from his house, already having forgotten about the dead body of one of his own. After living on Berk for fifteen years, one got used to death.

At least, Hiccup got used to it. He was never particularly bothered by the concept of losing one's life. The young man understood from a younger age that these things simply happened. They could be avoided, for a time, but the cold hands of the Reaper inevitably caught up with everyone… Except a select few.

When Hiccup finally reached the forge, looking for all the world like he'd just come from a simple walk in the park, a metal object was immediately thrust into his hands. More specifically, a sword.

"Nice of ya ta show up, lad." Said the village blacksmith, Gobber the Belch, dryly. The man, like many Vikings, had a rotund stomach, stocky build, and a face of very impressive facial hair. Unlike other Vikings, however, was the fact that the blacksmith was missing two limbs; an arm and a leg. He had prosthetics instead- a peg leg and a hammer hand. The hammer was one of his many detachable arm gadgets. There was also a hook, an axe blade, a brush, and many others.

"Yew know what ta do, lad. Now, get to it!" Gobber told Hiccup. The boy had been the blacksmith's apprentice for many years, due to the machinations of his father. When he had been younger, Hiccup had been quite the fishbone of a lad. He couldn't even lift a Viking helmet a few years ago. So ashamed was Hiccup's father, that the man sent the boy off to work in the forges. His reasoning was that blacksmiths tended to do a lot of heavy lifting, and heavier hitting. Hiccup's father had hoped that after a bit of time, the lad would finally put on some muscle.

Luckily, it worked, much to everyone's relief. Although he wasn't as large as the other Vikings, Hiccup was still quite strong- he just happened to be more lean than the others, built for speed as opposed to pure strength. That monstrous power he showed when killing the Nightmare was due to… other things.

Hiccup gave a noncommital hum to his master, before walking over to the whetstone and rapidly pressed the pedal to get it spinning. The boy quickly sharpened the sword, then put it into the bucket for finished jobs. Just when he was about to turn and ask Gobber for some more things to work on, a barrel was plopped down in front of him. It was full of a variety of weapons- more swords, spears, maces, axes, daggers, even a frying pan! Confused, Hiccup glanced at his mentor with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey, don' look at me! When the dragons raid, ya gotta have a weapon- doesn't matter what it is!"

It was true, Hiccup supposed. The raids began quickly, with little to no warning, and always on dark nights when the sentries couldn't see the dragons until they were on top of them.

Still, Hiccup sighed with aggravation. Many of these weapons were dented or bent, something that couldn't be fixed with a simple sharpening. He would have to actually get _up_ , and go over to the forge. It was so much work…

It couldn't be helped, though. Besides, Hiccup needed _something_ to keep him busy, else his mind would wander to the edges of the Earth- and that always led to disaster. Better to distract himself with something that requires concentration, even if it was as mundane as fixing weapons.

Walking over to the already fired up forge, Hiccup simply thrust in the metal parts of the damaged weapons, leaving the hilts to just hang out. A few minutes later, he was pulling the objects out using thick cloth gloves, quickly hammering them back into shape, and then dunking them in cold water. After doing this a few times, Hiccup had to pause in his work to open the window of the forge, in order to allow the billowing clouds of steam to escape. His ice was working overtime to keep him from sweating like a pig- layering his skin in a barely-noticeable sheet- but it was still a sweet relief to be surrounded by the chilled night air.

Outside, Hiccup caught sight of a group of teens around his age. They were lugging buckets of water with them, running from place to place, and putting fires out with the water they had.

This group was Berk's Fire Brigade, something Hiccup would have been a part of it he weren't the blacksmith's apprentice. They consisted of the teens in Berk who were too young to fight dragons, but too old to stay cowering inside with the rest of the children. Everyone above a certain age was expected to help out in this village.

Fishlegs Ingerman, the largest of the group in terms of size, was lagging behind the others. The boy's large cheeks were flushed red from exertion, and his helmet was on crookedly, exposing blond hair, but he pushed on with his stout legs.

In front of Fishlegs were a boy and a girl who looked so similar, one could mistake them for twins. Then again, that was probably because they _were_ twins. Ruffnut, the girl, and Tuffnut, the boy, were quite possibly the most destructive teens in Berk. After Hiccup, of course. They were, however, the most _purposefully_ destructive teens. Both teens had lanky builds, similar to Hiccup's, but a fair bit shorter. The both had long, blonde hair flowing behind them, and they seemed to be arguing with each other. After a few words were thrown, the Thorston twins knocked their helmeted heads together, stumbled apart, and then rejoined the rest of the Fire Brigade. The only way to tell the two apart was by their voices and hairstyle. Ruffnut had an intricate braid, while Tuffnut allowed his locks to fly free.

Further ahead was a muscular boy, Snotlout Jorgenson. Like Fishlegs, this boy was rather large, although he had noticeable muscle, as opposed to all-encompassing fat. However, one could only see the muscle on Snotlout's arms. He seemed to have ignored his legs, for they were a thin as Hiccup's. The boy was obviously fit, though, for he did not seem to be struggling very much to run. In fact, he seemed to be so at ease that he was flirting with the final member of the Brigade.

A blonde girl ran at the fore of the group, leading them to yet another fire. She had a steely look on her face, hardly noticing Snotlout's failed attempts to get her attention. Her blue eyes were tinted orange by the luminous flames. Her face, while containing soft curves, was contorted into a sharp scowl that became honed with Snotlout's every word. She obviously did not like the boy.

Astrid Hofferson had a lithe build, similar to Hiccup's and the Thorston twins, though her muscles were far more defined. She was the only one of the teens to carry a weapon- a single-sided axe- though that was because the axe was gift from a very important person. She could not bear to leave it at home, in case her house was destroyed by a rampaging dragon.

Hiccup watched the teens move through the village, and was tempted to just jump out the window and join them. Anything to get away from this boring, mindless work.

As soon as Hiccup had gotten a leg up onto the windowsill, he heard a shout from behind him.

"Hiccup! Get back in here!" Shoot. Looks like Gobber found him out. WIth a hefty sigh, the lad got back down, and returned to his station at the forge.

"Ah, come on, Gobber. You can't _seriously_ expect me to stay here the whole time! It's so _boring_!"

Gobber was not impressed with the teen's reasoning.

"Boring or not, yer stayin' here 'til I say so!"

HIccup groaned dramatically, going back to hammering a broken weapon.

"None a' yer whinin'-" Gobber paused when he looked out the window, and caught sight of a few of his tribesmen struggling to hold down several Deadly Nadders caught in a net,

"They need me out there. You," He pointed at the apprentice, "Stay put. There... Yew know what I _mean_." The blacksmith then ran out the forge, leaving Hiccup to his own devices. Quite the mistake.

The second Gobber was gone, a malicious, toothy grin spread across Hiccup's face. He immediately dropped the object he was tending to, shot some ice into the furnace to cool it down, then leapt out the window of the forge. He ran back towards his house, circling around back to where a small structure was hidden by a tarp.

Pulling the cloth back, Hiccup revealed what he dubbed, "The Mangler." It looked very similar to a cannon, but was made completely from wood, and quite a bit smaller as well. Hiccup put the wheels it was mounted on to use and pushed the contraption across the ground, quickly making his way to the highest cliff near the town. Once there, he flicked a lever which would keep the wheels locked into place, to prevent movement while aiming. After fiddling a bit with the wooden crosshair on top of the device, he deemed it ready to fire.

"Come on, gimme something to shoot…" HIccup mumbled to himself. Then, he heard it.

An ear-piercing shriek broke through the sounds of combat and destruction, causing all who heard it to turn to the skies. Those near the catapults were especially on guard, since the maker of this noise tended to destroy the main defenses of the village. The screeching got louder and closer, until the night sky was lit up by a single blue orb. It rocketed forward at insane speeds, striking fear into the hearts of all who saw it.

One of the Vikings manning the catapults finally managed to get his fear under control, and shouted, "NIGHT FURY! GET DOWN!"

Him, and the majority of his comrades, dove off the tower which the catapults sat atop, as the spire was blasted to pieces by the blue bolt. One man hadn't been quick enough, and ended up getting crushed to death among the rubble. He didn't make a noise, even as, or perhaps due to, a jagged segment of a support column stabbing straight through his sternum. The man grasped feebly at the piece of wood, before he was blocked from Hiccup's sight by the crumbling masonry.

Hiccup ignored it, excited as he was by the prospect of a worthy adversary. His hands were shaking in anticipation, and he turned his full attention to the stars. Everything else- all the gruesome deaths, war cries, bestial roars, explosions- was blocked out by the young lad's one-track mind. Finally, his sharp emerald eyes caught sight of his prey; a few stars had been momentarily blocked out, the sudden darkness relaying the position of the Night Fury.

The best part was, Hiccup knew where it was going to go. The elusive demon _always_ took out the aerial defenses of the village, before disappearing for the rest of the raid. Right now, there was only one catapult left, somewhere to the north of HIccup. There had been more earlier, but they were destroyed by a combination of rampaging dragons and reckless Vikings.

Eying the air around the remaining tower, Hiccup's jitters were beginning to get to him, and he had to take a moment to forcefully calm himself. In that second, he saw it- the telltale blue glow in the sky, seemingly coming from a void of darkness. Ignoring his shaking body, Hiccup swiveled the Mangler as quickly as the mechanisms would allow, before slamming down the lever which would shoot the bola.

He was rewarded, seconds later, when a leathery collision and a bloodcurdling shriek were heard, and the blue bolt the dragon had been charging was shot upwards in panic. Hiccup's brain threatened to shut down at the sheer amount of amazement it was subjected to.

"I hit it…" Hiccup murmured quietly. Then, the reality of the situation sunk in.

"I hit it!" He cried, "I really hit it! DId anyone see that!?" The boy turned around, searching for any nearby Vikings to brag to, but stopped in his tracks when he met the sickly yellow glare of another Monstrous Nightmare.

" _Except_ for you…" The young man sighed, then jabbed his arm at the dragon. A spear of ice propelled from Hiccup's outstretched palm, impaling itself into the Nightmare's eye, piercing the animal's brain. The dragon was dead before it knew what happened.

Feeling very proud of himself, Hiccup felt the urge to go run and tell his father, which he did. The Mangler was left up on the hill; he could get it another time.

Weaving through the mess of dragons and Vikings was very easy for the agile lad. His small frame also helped quite a bit. In minutes, Hiccup had reached the town square, the largest clearing in the village, in hopes of finding his father. Luckily, his intuition had been correct.

There, on the opposite side of the square, was a group of men struggling to keep their grips on a massive net which held many Nadders- the same group Gobber had rushed off to join earlier. In fact, there was Gobber, right over there!

Next to the blacksmith was a true beast of a man. He stood well over six feet tall, perhaps closer to seven, and seemed to be a walking mountain of muscle. The Viking's massive biceps were wider than Hiccup's waist, and broad shoulders made it hard to walk straight through most doors. The man had an enormous beard, which covered the majority of his torso. The ends of the red hair were tied into neat braids, a few of which were burned, likely a result of the raid. All in all, the man was more comparable to a bear than a human.

That man was Stoick the Vast, the chieftain of Berk for well over twenty years, and hailed as one of the best chiefs the village had had in decades. He also happened to be Hiccup's father.

Hiccup jogged over to the group, and slapped his father's arm to get his attention. The boy completely ignored the fact that Stoik seemed to be the main source of strength holding down the Nadders, and when the man was distracted, his grip slipped. As a result, one Nadder managed to maneuver enough to slice the tough ropes of the net, and soon was leading the other dragons to freedom. They quickly took to the skies, not even sticking around long enough to nab some more food.

With a heavy sigh, Stoick turned to his son.

"What _now_ , Hiccup!?"

Though others would have felt at least a bit nervous talking to the chief when he was in this mood, Hiccup was riding too high to be brought down.

"I hit the Night Fury with my bola-launcher!"

Stoick eyed his son for a moment, then sighed once more in exasperation. His beard moved with his mouth, making it seem as if the chief had a furry creature on his face.

"Hiccup, stop with yer games. We've more important things ta worry about."

"No, I'm serious this time! It isn't like the trolls!"

"Son, I'm serious, too, when I say ta leave me alone with this yakshit!"

Annoyed, Hiccup allowed his father to leave without protest. The boy turned to go back to the forge, grumbling under his breath the entire time.

"Fine, if he thinks I'm lying, I'll just bring him the damned thing's head as proof."

* * *

That was how Hiccup found himself wandering through the forest the next morning. It was very early, before Gobber woke, so the boy was free from his apprentice duties. Hiccup didn't really have any other things to do, not even house work. Two people did not generate a ton of mess.

This was the reason why Hiccup made those seemingly-insane contraptions; he had nothing better to do with his time. He didn't need them to kill dragons, since he could do that well enough on his own. These machines were more to make raids fun, and it helped that working on them was usually pretty entertaining as well- especially when they malfunctioned. There was one time the Mangler was set off prematurely, and it knocked another Viking out. Hiccup could not stop laughing, even while he was running from the enraged villager.

He had been tromping through trees for the past hour, and still no sign of the downed dragon. Hiccup vaguely remembered seeing the Night Fury fall around Raven Point, but was distracted by the Nightmare. He silently vowed to rip out the heart of the next one that came after him.

Hiccup entered another clearing, glanced around for anything suspicious, then scribbled another cross down on his map. At this point, the lad was frustrated enough to tuck away his sketchbook, and punched a tree. His arm went elbow deep into the bark, and he pulled it out sideways before continuing on his way.

A few moments later, he heard the sound of a falling tree behind him.

"Timber…" The lad whispered to himself in amusement, before trailing off at the sight before him, emerald eyes wide in disbelief.

In front of him stood a tree that looked to have been sheared in half. The majority of the branches were scattered along the forest floor, with a few still limply hanging from the tree. Behind this broken tree was a path of destruction, trailing for what must have been at least a hundred yards, before dropping off a cliff.

Moving forward to examine what may have caused the ruin, Hiccup gasped when he peered over the ledge, and saw a beautiful cove. Even though he had lived on Berk for fifteen years, and spent much of that time gallivanting through the woods, Hiccup had never seen such a perfect piece of nature.

The water was a pure azure, so clear that Hiccup could see the bottom of the lake, along with the many fish which were swimming around. The grass was a vivid green, tall in some places, but short in others. Regardless of its height, the greenery seemed very soft, which Hiccup had a hard time believing was possible. On Berk, where it snowed nine months and hailed the other three, grass was sparse. If it did grow, it was usually very short and coarse.

There were no trees in the bowl of the cove, but there were plenty lining the rocky outcropping which made up the walls of the basin. These trees were similar to the other trees on Berk; tall, thick, and gnarled with knots, along with plenty of needle leaves. Had Hiccup not been looking for the Night Fury so diligently, he would likely have never found this place with how ordinary the large trunks were.

In the center of the cove, Hiccup saw a massive rock, roughly the size of a house back in Berk. It seemed very smooth and round, likely a result of the lack of cover from the elements. The water from the snow, hail, and occasional rainfall, must have eroded the boulder from something even greater in the past.

In front of the gargantuan stone, Hiccup saw a black figure. It was small, compared to the rock, but was likely bigger than him up close. Slightly put off by the darkness of the silhouette, Hiccup cast a quick glance to the sky before assuring himself it was not a shadow, but indeed the captured Night Fury. It stood out brilliantly against the background of bright green, courtesy of the short grass.

With a toothy grin, Hiccup threw himself over the cliff, dropping the twenty feet to the ground without even a wince. A smile still on the boy's face, he jogged over to the downed dragon, barely able to contain himself. By presenting the head of this legendary beast to his Father, Hiccup would ensure himself a position in Berk's annals until Ragnarok struck.

This would also have the effect of proving his worth to Stoick. Though the boy had amazing ice powers, he never showed the rest of the villagers. He figured, since the others did not have any abilities of the magical variety, that he would be further disgraced for being even more different from his peers.

Ever since his birth, the village knew Hiccup would be different. Born prematurely, the lad had barely survived his first week, so weak was his infant body. It was a miracle he had lived past the first year, but the circumstances of his strange birth showed within the coming years.

Hiccup was, to put it simply, a twig. The boy had limbs skinnier than a weapon handle, and didn't weigh much more than one, either. Growing up, he had always been made fun of by his year-mates, who had already outstripped him in terms of physical development, and was continuously ridiculed by the adults. They simply could not believe that their Chief, Stoick the Vast- emphasis on _vast_ \- could have a child that was so miniscule. Many even questioned if the Chief's wife had actually stayed faithful to her husband, and that Hiccup was in reality a bastard child. Perhaps a trader had taken a fancy to Valka.

Those rumours were brutally shut down by Stoick, who was enraged that any of his people would dare slander his wife's, and by extension his own, good name.

By the time his eleventh winter rolled around, HIccup hadn't changed very much. Sure, he got taller, but not by much- and he certainly did not gain a noticeable amount of weight. It seemed as though the mass he already had was simply spread across a wider area. Most of the other kids towered over him, like Snotlout. While Hiccup had been level with his Father's waist, Snotlout could see eye-to-belly with the Chief.

However, that was before Stoick signed his son up as the blacksmith's apprentice. Aside from the versatile set of skills which Hiccup learned in the forge- which he later applied to the creation of his insane inventions- the lad did indeed bulk up, as his father hoped. Hammering metal and doing lots of heavy-lifting tended to do that.

Stoick was quite proud when he noticed his son seemed to be always eating a few months into his apprenticeship. The boy needed the nourishment after expending all his energy in the forge, and the rest was put towards his rapidly-developing body.

Now, at fifteen, Hiccup was the one towering over the other children. The tallest of them, still Snotlout, now stood equal to Stoick's chest. Meanwhile, Hiccup could look straight at his father's chin- not that he could see it behind that impressive mane of a beard.

Hiccup now used that height and immense strength to his advantage; by holding down the floundering Night Fury with his bare hands.

"Damn, you're pretty strong… Too bad I'm stronger!" Hiccup cried, before grabbing hold of the ropes of the bola which caught the dragon, lifting the creature into the air, then slamming it into the ground hard enough to stun it. The overgrown lizard stopped thrashing at that, recognizing it's struggle was now futile.

It was going to die.

Hiccup took a moment to admire his handiwork. Here lay the most dangerous dragon known to Berk- the one which had caused more damage to the village than any other beast (and perhaps even other Viking clans)- all trussed up and defeated.

It was quite long from head to tail, likely comparable to the smaller Viking ships. It was, of course, pure black, and it was somewhat difficult to make out the individual scales, as they simply blended together into a mass of shadows.

Running along the length of the dragon was a single line of spines, which were rather rounded. They didn't seem to be made for doing damage or for intimidation, like other types of dragons.

The legs were rather short, but seemed to be absolutely _packed_ with muscle. Hiccup was wary of being kicked by one of those- even with his enhanced durability, the beast could possibly still break a few bones with a well-placed strike. The stout legs led to flat feet, with four claws of also short length. Regardless of the size, Hiccup could see the curvature of the talons, as well as the razor-sharp point. He did not want to be on the wrong end of those.

Further up the body of the dragon, the boy saw the wings which made this dragon such a terror. It was rumoured amongst the Hairy Hooligans- the tribal name of the inhabitants of Berk- that the Night Fury was by far the fastest dragon, outclassing even the agile Deadly Nadder. Why this was, nobody knew, since none had ever gotten this close to the demon before Hiccup, though it most probably had something to do with the dragon's wings. The young Viking could not tell, with just the glance that he could get, just how wide the dragon's wingspan was. However, judging by the thickness of the folds, Hiccup could infer that there was quite a lot of flesh in there. This equated to either very large wings, or very meaty ones. The young lad was inclined to go with the former.

The Night Fury had, similarly to its legs, a very stout neck. Past that, Hiccup found the head, which… was not as intimidating as he had always imagined.

Hiccup had always expected that, since the dragon was called the offspring of death, that it would have a skull-helmet, or no skin on its face, or at the very least a bit of bone exposed.

There was none of that. Instead, the dragon had six strange flaps on the back of its head, two of which were larger than the others. These large ones seemed to be the ears, while the others had no immediately discernible purpose. On the top of the head, there was a series of small bumps, seemingly a continuation of the rounded spines on the animal's back.

Speaking of the head, the Night Fury had a rather disc-shaped one. It was flat on the top and bottom, and was more round than angular, like some dragon species.

The mouth was a bit hard to make out. It was simply a thin line which stretched across the width of the demon's face, and did not seem to be open at the moment. Hiccup imagined that the teeth in there must have been as sharp as, or sharper than, the creature's claws.

Regardless, Hiccup promptly forgot about the rest of his observations when he finally caught sight of the dragon's eyes.

They were, like the beast's other features, rounded, though more ovular than the other traits. The eyeballs themselves were a dazzling emerald green color, which were actually similar to his own. The young VIking was taken aback by this; he had never even seen another human with eyes that color. Stoick always said his son got his eyes from his mother, but Valka had gone missing years ago, snatched up by a dragon during a raid.

Managing to tear his gaze away from the mirror image of his eyes, Hiccup at last turned his attention to the vertical slits that were the dragon's black pupils. They were very thin, probably thinner than a knife blade, but they were filled with an unholy amount of rage. Of course, Hiccup knew this was to be expected; he had, after all, brought down the most treacherous dragon which roamed the skies of Berk.

However, what threw Hiccup for a loop was the depth of the Night Fury's gaze. It was penetrating, disturbing in its single-minded focus. The boy had no doubt that if looks could kill, he would have been dead before even laying his eyes on the dragon.

This also demonstrated to Hiccup the presence of, probably limited, intelligence. The dragon seemed to understand the fact that it was trapped, that it was at the mercy of this human, and would likely be killed. It may even have connected the dots and determined that Hiccup was the one that brought it down.

The staring match lasted for what seemed like centuries to the ice-wielder, before the dragon cut the connection and dropped its head to the ground with a light thump.

Hiccup was shocked. The dragon, which must have been as prideful and fierce as its fellow beasts, had just dropped its head in defeat. He had always been taught that the demons will struggle until the bitter end, and sometimes even beyond that- there were tales of dragons letting out a desperate gout of fire moments before their end, which caused damages to a nearby structure that fell and killed their murderer. Quite gruesome.

Regardless, this dragon was clearly giving up… Unless…

"So, trying to lull me into a false sense of security, eh, beast? Well, I'll have you know I'm much smarter than my tribesmen, which is why I won't fall for your tricks. I'm gonna cut your heart out, and present it to my father. Your head, too, so I have proof it came from the most fearsome dragon we know of." To emphasize this, Hiccup pulled a knife from the inside pocket of his leather vest.

"Yeah… With the honor of killing you, I'll be hailed as a hero! Nobody will be able to talk down to me anymore, because _I'm_ the one who brought down the King of the skies. They can kill all the Nightmares they want, they'll _never_ drag me down from my pedestal of glory…" The boy was becoming more and more demented in his rantings, going on about the prestige he would earn and his soon-to-be hero status. He even ended his monologue with a high-pitched cackle, which would have made the most hardened witch proud.

Let it never be said that eleven years of scorn, during the most emotionally sensitive part of one's life, is harmless.

The dragon, who had been expecting death, was confused to find itself alive for so long. It was also confused as to the odd noises which the human with the sharp object was making. Slightly irritated, since this prolonged torture was simply disgraceful, the Night Fury opened its eyes and lifted its head once more to gaze upon the boy.

Noticing the movement, Hiccup snapped his eyes over to the dragon's, slightly startled to see them open again. He decided to ignore it, and get on with taking the first step to his magnificent future. The figurative first step was accompanied by a literal first step, since the boy had managed to distance himself from the dragon during his mad ravings. In two more steps, Hiccup was once more upon the Night Fury, casting his thin shadow over the dark beast. The position of the sun behind him caused it to stretch longer than he was tall.

The demon continued to watch him, seeing the demented grin spread across his face, and his grip tighten on the metal knife. He positioned it where he thought the dragon's heart was, a bit to the left of the center of its chest, closed his eyes, and exhaled deeply. He was mentally preparing himself to become a legend.

Logically, he knew nothing would actually happen until he brought the head to the village, and perhaps showed his fellow warriors the rest of the corpse left in the cove. Regardless of that reasoning, this was the biggest moment in the young man's life, one he would never forget.

However, this day would be forever burned into Hiccup's mind for a different reason. The boy made a mistake- one he would soon come to view as a blessing from Odin Allfather himself.

Hiccup opened his eyes, and once more stared into the mournful eyes of the Night Fury.

* * *

 **Yeah, a pretty lengthy one. I think this is the longest chapter I've ever written for any of my stories, so if you're reading this… be honored, yo.**


	3. Chapter 3

Hiccup once more noticed the sheer depth of the captured Night Fury's eyes. They seemed to be deeper than the ocean, and the boy nearly found himself lost in those emerald waters. He just barely managed to pull himself back to his senses, lest he simply stare until Ragnarok came.

Turning his head away, making desperately sure not to look at the dragon's face again, Hiccup repositioned his knife. He adjusted his grip, then again, then once more. It seemed as if the blade somehow became misshapen during those few seconds; the young Viking could no longer hold it properly. His hands were becoming uncomfortable moist, not helping the situation at all.

Deciding he needed to get his over with, Hiccup altered his grip one last time, before pushing down with the weapon. He stopped short of the black dragon's skin, and began to shake. He was trying, putting immense effort into his task, but something seemed to hold the boy back. It was an invisible force, one that caused the young man to strain to the point that sweat began to trickle from his scalp down to his chin. Soon, a veritable waterfall was being produced by Hiccup, and he kept at his struggle.

Finally, he relented, gasping heavily. That battle with the unknown entity had taken a lot out of him, and he would likely be sore in the morning from his exertion.

The lad was nothing if not determined, however. He _would_ become a legend by presenting the head of this vicious beast to his people. There would be a massive celebration, and the Night Fury's skull would be stuffed and nailed to the wall in his room.

Repositioning the dagger, Hiccup drew upon every ounce of strength he knew about, going further than he ever had before. And yet, upon pushing down once more, the young man found he couldn't pierce the dragon's hide.

Or rather, _wouldn't_.

Hiccup began to rethink this whole situation. With his unnatural strength, it would take at least ten Vikings of Stoick's vast size to hold him back- something he would definitely notice. Yet, during his attempt, Hiccup had felt no outside forces acting upon him. Instead, the struggle was internal. Something in his mind refused to let him harm this beast, and it had to do with the look in its eyes.

"Damn you…" The boy muttered to the NIght Fury, and was startled when what he assumed was an ear twitched. For some reason, the slight movement inspired an ire within the Viking, a rage so hot it could burn Yggdrasil itself to ashes.

"DAMN YOU!" He shouted, face redder than a sea of blood on a battlefield. "Damn you, for looking so pathetic! You are supposed to be a demon that is hell-bent on destroying all life, not- not some _fucking pitiful animal!_ "

At this point, the lad's anger boiled over, and he began to scream incoherently. The Night Fury, while it didn't understand Norse, at least knew that something was _very_ wrong with its captor. Humans usually spoke calmly- or mostly loudly, if they're Vikings- to each other, in gibberish which dragons could not understand. They most certainly did _not_ make animalistic noises. They also did not emit enough frost to freeze a glacier.

The dragon, which as a lizard was cold-blooded, was very acutely aware of the fact that if this thin human continued to lower the temperature of the area, it would die a most horrible death. To try and prevent this, it let out a whining moan.

Hiccup's snapped out of his raging at the pathetic noise. He swiveled his head back to look at the dragon's face, teeth bared and hair frosty.

The dragon keened once more, and Hiccup continued to stare. After a long moment, the boy seemed to calm down from his primal rage, and went limp, leaning against the beast.

"I… Can't do this. Why? I've killed dragons before… Just a quick spike through the head, and…" The young man paused, and his eyes widened with realization. "I've always used my ice! Maybe the knife is just too up-close and personal!"

Excited by this new prospect, Hiccup leapt to his feet, and pointed his palms at the reptile. Frost began to accumulate around his hands, and with a mighty, if a bit squeaky, warcry, the Viking unleashed his power.

He most definitely did not expect the Night Fury to open its mouth and shoot a bolt of lightning at him.

The electricity and ice collided, resulting in an explosion which knocked HIccup back dozens of feet. Disoriented from crashing into the ground, it took the lad a few moments to register that here were now sparks jumping all over his prone body.

Hiccup panicked, and leapt to his feet once more before running around like a headless chicken. He knew, like all citizens of Berk, what to do in the event of a fire; stop, drop, and roll. Or, toss the poor bastard off a cliff and hope he makes it into the water alive. There was never really a worry of being electrocuted, unless you severely pissed off Thor.

So, _did_ he piss off Thor? Probably not, since the lightning came from a dragon's mouth as opposed to the sky. Speaking of which, what's with that? Since when did NIght Fury's shoot lightning bolts? Hiccup had been fairly certain before today that it only used blue-white fireballs.

The phrase 'the unholy spawn of lightning and Death itself' circulated around the young man's mind for a few seconds, before he got back to the more pressing issue- he was still… On lightning? What do you call it when the electricity was clinging to you like wet wool? Also, why wasn't it hurting him?

At this realization, Hiccup finally stopped jumping about, instead taking a minute to process that thought. He was still alive, and clearly not charred to a crisp. Was the dragon's lightning defective or something? Maybe Thor had blessed him with immunity to electrocution. That would be pretty cool.

That also reminded Hiccup of his earlier thought process. The Night Fury was known as the offspring of lightning and death. Did that mean it was the child of Thor and… Hel? She was the ruler of Helheim, which was the realm of the dead, so it would make sense. It would explain the lightning, too.

He glanced back over to the dragon, as if the creature could somehow answer his questions. Those hopes were dashed instantly. Even if the beast could talk, it definitely wouldn't be anytime soon, considering the fact that it was frozen in a block of ice.

Hiccup had felt his sanity slipping away, bit by bit, over the course of the day. It would explain why he wanted to unfreeze the dragon, just in case it actually _could_ talk. The young Viking walked over, and laid his hands on the ice. It was always a bit weird to un-make his frost, since it required him to absorb the chill within it, leaving behind a bunch of melted water. The sensation tickled, and the lad normally couldn't resist letting out a few giggles.

This, however, was not a normal time. When he concentrated on his powers, and willed the ice to melt, something drastically different happened. Sparks of electricity began to race up his arm, causing Hiccup to panic once more. He leapt away from the ice, wary of letting the two elements interact, in the event that they caused another explosion.

Hiccup stared at his arms in wonder. Why, when he had _clearly_ called upon his ice powers, had sparks of electricity popped up? The Night Fury had shot a bolt of lightning at his lance of ice, so… Had the powers of the two switched?

Well, only one way to find out. Hiccup aimed his open palms at the block of ice, and called upon this new ability. It responded quickly, perhaps even as fast as his ice. The most disturbing thing, however, was how _natural_ it felt. When Hiccup wielded his frost, he felt calm, serene, even _joyful_ , as if his soul knew that this was how things should be. The same could somehow be said for the lightning, which was honestly pretty cool. As a fifteen-year-old boy, Hiccup had obviously fantasized at least once or twice about being as powerful as the gods, such as Thor. That included wielding thunder.

A mental command sent two bolts of plasma flying, one from each hand. They covered the distance before Hiccup could even blink, causing a thunderous clap upon collision. Chunks of ice went flying throughout the forest clearing, shattered so fast that the intense heat of the lightning couldn't even melt the ice. Hiccup was pegged in the face with a particularly fast-moving piece, getting sent to his ass due to the force behind it, which would have crushed the skull of a lesser person.

"Ow…" he muttered, rubbing his forehead. A welt was already forming, and would be painfully obvious. If the teen had had access to his ice powers at the moment, he would have frozen the bump to reduce the swelling, but that obviously wasn't an option right now.

Ignoring the throbbing bump, the Viking climbed to his feet, and looked at the frozen dragon. It seemed that Hiccup's efforts had broken the majority of the ice, leaving a thin layer of frost on the dragon, turning its pitch-black scales white.

The human walked over to the lizard, and brushed some of the shattered ice off the beast. After a few minutes of this, the dragon was relatively frost-free, if one overlooked the white dust between the scales and in other hard-to-reach places. It was, however, still unconscious. HIccup pressed his head up to the creatures chest, and could hear a weak heartbeat. The NIght Fury was also breathing steadily, if a bit slowly, so Hiccup knew it was still alive. He would have to wait a while for it to wake up, however.

In the meantime, he would _definitely_ be having fun with these lightning powers.

* * *

It took an hour for the black dragon to wake up. During that hour, Hiccup had lobbed no less than a hundred lightning bolts in various places; at the water, up into the sky, at the massive boulder in the center of the clearing, and even at a poor bird that had made the mistake of flying overhead. The feathers were blown off bird instantly, and seemed to have been cooked thoroughly. Hiccup caught it before it hit the ground.

His mother had taught him to never waste food, after all.

While he was eating, he heard someone groan, and very nearly dropped his snack. Fortunately, he didn't, and simply held it in one hand, channeling electricity to the other. He whipped around quickly, examining the clearing with a sharp eye. After a full of minute of near silence, save for the crackling static on his arm, Hiccup relaxed slightly. He had seen nothing to indicate that another person had stumbled upon the enclave. The groan had been close by, close enough that Hiccup _should_ have seen whoever made the noise, but there was nobody.

Hiccup started to wonder if maybe he was imagining things, when another groan sounded off. This time, he knew it was directly behind him, and he whirled around to catch the stalker. Still, there was no one there. The only thing he saw was the unmoving dragon, and the massive boulder. Maybe someone was behind the rock…?

Acting on that notion, HIccup crept towards the stone silently and began to circle it, but froze when the lizard that was now directly to his left stirred. A moan was heard, and Hiccup knew it had somehow come from the dragon, despite how human it sounded.

"The Hel?" he muttered, creeping closer, bird still in hand. Suddenly, the dragon began to spasm violently, causing Hiccup to leap backwards in shock. He summoned a lightning bolt, but held onto it, waiting to see if he would actually need it. Fortunately, he didn't, as the Night Fury stopped writhing, and laid still once more. Its breathing was audible, showing Hiccup that it was still alive, but simply tired from its seizure. Finally, the dragon opened its slit-pupiled emerald eyes, and locked onto Hiccup. They watched each other for a tense moment, before the Night Fury exhaled heavily, its pupils widening slightly as it calmed down, and the beast's muscles visibly relaxed.

"Can you talk?" Hiccup asked. He felt slightly stupid, but ignored it. That was the whole reason he kept the dragon alive, after all.

The dragon snapped to attention, confused that it understood the human. "Uh… Yes…"

Hiccup's jaw dropped, and he finally let go of the roasted fowl in his hand. He pointed at the dragon, stunned beyond belief.

"You… You actually _talked…_ " he whispered, though the dragon still heard it, with its superior hearing.

The Night Fury lifted its head, pupils widening further in confusion. "Did you really understand that?"

Hiccup nodded his head dumbly. The black dragon narrowed its eyes at the human, unsure if he was truly answering the question, or making random motions.

"Point at the sky," the tied-up beast commanded.

Hiccup did it, though was even more confused now. "Why?"

"Just checking something… What color is it?"

"Blue… Are you testing me?" Hiccup asked, realization dawning on him.

"Yes. I had to make sure you weren't just making random movements and sounds."

"Alright, I guess… My turn, then. Slap the ground with your tail… Five times."

The dragon did, creating a meaty whacking sound that echoed through the forest clearing. Hiccup was at a loss for words. He didn't know why he could suddenly understand the captured creature in front of him, but he could, and it seemed the beast could understand him, as well.

"How long are you going to keep me tied up?" the Night Fury asked, though there was more annoyance than hostility behind the question.

"Until I'm sure you're not gonna kill me."

"Alright. I won't kill you."

Hiccup gave the dragon a disbelieving look. "Really now?"

"Yup. Swear on my honor as a Shadowstalker," the dragon said lazily, tail swishing in the air.

"Well, I've always heard that dragons _had_ no honor… Then again, I also learned you were called a Night Fury, not a Shadowstalker, so I guess some things are wrong…" Hiccup said. He walked over to the dragon, picking up his knife from where it had been discarded next to the beast. He set to work slicing through the bola ropes wrapped around the dragon. It was a long process, since they were thick enough to prevent the victim from simply breaking out, and his knife was not exactly sharp.

Finally, however, the last strand of rope fell away from the scaly animal, and it stood up slowly, shakily.

"You okay?" Hiccup asked, somewhat surprised that he cared. Then again, there was much to be learned from this beast.

"I _will_ be, once the blood returns to my legs… You _may_ want to back up," the Shadowstalker advised. Hiccup did, and watched as the dragon turned away from the massive boulder it had landed next, then snapped its wings out. The Viking stared as the wings went out… And out… And out…

"How long _are_ those things!?" he cried, truly shocked at the dragon's insane wingspan.

The dragon seemed to smirk, which was weird on the reptile's face. "Very," it replied. Hiccup rolled his eyes in slight exasperation.

"Nice answer, ya overgrown lizard… By the way, what's your name?" Hiccup asked out of nowhere.

The black beast closed its eyes, seemingly in concentration, before it opened them. It did _not_ , however, open its mouth when it replied, something Hiccup finally noticed. "I don't have one. There was never a need, since I was usually the only Shadowstalker wherever I went, so everyone simply called me by race."

Hiccup decided to try something. " _Do you_ want _a name?"_ he thought, doing what he imagined to be projecting the mental query. The dragon seemed to get the message, because it tilted its head in confusion.

"How did you do that?" it asked, ear flaps sticking straight up. It looked cute, like a cat.

Apparently, the Shadowstalker caught _that_ , as well, since its ears fell, and the creature growled. "I am _not_ cute- I am fierce!"

"Woah, calm down! You can be cute _and_ fierce, alright?" Hiccup said, hands out in front of him to placate the beast. "Anyways, to answer your question, I was just testing a little theory of mine. I noticed you didn't open your mouth when you speak, so I wanted to see if I could do the same, and apparently I can. Wonder if it works with other people, or other dragons…" Hiccup muttered, mind straying to the possibilities that would be opened up.

The dragon in front of him finally got annoyed, and whacked the boy with a _very_ long wing.

"Hey!" the human cried, backing up slightly to avoid another swing. "What's wrong with you!?"

"Don't zone out!" the lizard replied sharply, and Hiccup rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Er, right. Sorry, that happens sometimes when I learn something huge… Anyways, you never answered me earlier! Do you want a name?"

The Shadowstalker stared at him for a long moment, before finally rolling its eyes. "As if a puny human like you could think of a name that would match my glorious existence!" the dragon responded haughtily, sticking its nose up in the air for good measure.

Hiccup also rolled his eyes. "RIght, _forgive me_ for thinking I could even try… So, are you a male or female?"

"Male."

"Alright… How about… Hm. Nah, that's too pretentious. What about-! Wait, no, that sounds weird…" Hiccup broke off into a bunch of unintelligible muttering, much too low for the reptile to hear. He rolled his eyes, and sat back on his haunches, resigned to waiting out what would probably be a long process.

"Aha! How about Kairos?"

The dragon perked to attention instantly, surprised by how quickly the teen had come to a conclusion.

"Kairos… Kai-ros~," the Shadowstalker muttered, rolling the name around on his tongue. "Yes, it sounds quite… Graceful. What does it mean?" the newly-named Kairos asked, tilting his head sideways.

"It's a word from a far away land, meaning the opportune moment to do something. I saw it in the Gothi's library once. It'll remind me of when I found the right time to fire the machine that let me catch you."

Kairos' eyes drooped, and he pushed his head forward to glare at the Viking in annoyance. "If that's why you picked it, then I don't want it."

"Well, that's just too bad! You'll have to get used to it, _Kairos_!" Hiccup said, taking joy in teasing the dragon.

Said dragon growled, dropping into a crouched position. He opened his mouth wide- allowing Hiccup to notice the startling lack of teeth- and produced a white glow in the back of his throat. It was different from the plasma he shot earlier, Hiccup noted.

Then, the Shadowstalker began choking. He hacked and coughed, and for a second, the teen was convinced a lung was about to come out the black dragon's mouth. Fortunately, all that Kairos spat out was a lump of half-melted snow, which he stared at in shock.

"Oh, _right_ ," Hiccup muttered sheepishly, "I forgot about that…"

* * *

 **Got some motivation to start work on this story once more. I recently went on a tear with my PJO fanfic, Illusions, and ended up putting out 33,555 words in ten days. Hopefully, I can do the same thing here before I lose all my steam, which will probably happen soon since school starts in two days. Got some ideas for this story, some ambitious ones. Shit will get** _ **crazy**_ **.**

 **Btw, this chapter may seem a bit finicky, but that's because I had half of it already written a couple months ago before I abandoned it, so I had to try and work from that, and it was kinda hard :P**

 **K bai :D**


	4. Chapter 4

"So what you're telling me," Kairos began slowly, "Is that we somehow _switched_ powers?"

"As far as I can tell, yeah. I've never been able to use lightning, and from your reaction, I'm guessing you've never spit up a snowball before," Hiccup replied calmly, despite the situation. He had had a bit more time to get used to the absurdity.

"Well, no. It was… Odd."

"I think it happened when we shot at each other, so maybe it'll go back to normal if we do that again. Try to blast me," Hiccup told the dragon.

Kairos once more attempted to summon energy from deep within him, the same way he did whenever he shot lightning. However, instead of a shard of ice speeding towards the Viking, a blob of half-melted snow simply rolled off the dragon's tongue, and fell to the ground. Hiccup and Kairos stared at it, then looked back at each other.

"Well, that was…" Hiccup trailed off, not wanting to offend the dragon in case it jumped him.

"Bad?" Kairos finished for him.

"Yeah…" Hiccup walked over to the pile of frost, and knelt down next to it. He thought about touching it, but then decided against it; the snow was half frozen water and half dragon saliva, which was disgusting. "Weird. I didn't have any problems like this when I was learning to use my ice- I had to _work_ to make snow…" Hiccup muttered. "I wonder…"

Hiccup took a few steps back, then shot a small bolt of lightning at the snow pile. It slammed into the slush, causing it to blow apart and splatter on the Shadowstalker's face, who had leaned forward to watch closer. He jumped back, then roared wordlessly at Hiccup, who was too busy laughing to care about the imminent danger.

The Viking took notice, however, when a lightning bolt slammed into his chest, sending him all the way across the clearing.

"I got it back!" Kairos crowed happily, performing a joyful dance which consisted of shifting side-to-side on his feet. He stopped when a snowball hit him square in the nose, startling the reptile horribly. Some of the snow even went _up_ his nose, resulting in a long sneezing fit.

Hiccup had collapsed to the ground after the second sneeze, knees too weak to hold him up due to laughing so hard. Eventually, he had to force himself to stop laughing, before he accidentally suffocated from not inhaling. He cleared his cheeks of the numerous tears that had poured from his eyes, and shakily stood up.

Kairos sneezed one last time, then waited a bit to see if it would happen again. His back was arched upwards in wariness, his eyes wide. He looked like a cat. Satisfied that he was done, the black beast relaxed, before turning a scathing glare on the human who had caused that humiliation. Hiccup simply shrugged, not apologetic in the slightest

"We're even," Hiccup said, when the dragon stared longer. Kairos growled.

"No we're not! You got me twice, and I only got you once!" the dragon cried.

"You _did_ get me twice!" Hiccup replied, "You hit me with lightning _and_ you put a hole in my tunic!"

"So!? It's a piece of cloth! It's not my fault you humans wear such weak layers!" Kairos growled, baring his teeth at the human.

"Yeah, well, it's not my fault you can't tell the difference between breathing in air and snow!" Hiccup retorted, smirking when the dragon didn't say anything. The smirk slid right off his face when Kairos opened his mouth, a blue glow illuminating the back of his throat.

Hiccup hastily threw his hands up, forming a wall of ice a split-second before the lightning collided with him. As it was, the teen simply got knocked back, though less drastically than before, and it didn't result in a singed hole in his clothes- which he was still mad about, by the way.

"Ha!" the Viking shouted, "Get blocked!"

"Are you totally gonna ignore the fact that you got knocked on your ass?" Kairos asked bemusedly, irritation muted for a moment.

"Yup, because I didn't get shocked, so I get to gloat about how you weren't strong enough to break my ice shield," Hiccup said, blowing a raspberry at the lizard for good measure.

Then, the oddest thing happened. Kairos' mouth twitched upwards at the corner, as if he were trying to smile like a human. It was slightly disturbing, to say the least.

"Oh, so you want _power_?" Kairos asked, still smiling that toothless smile.

'Uh… Wait, no, whatever you're gonna do, _don't_."

"Too late!" the dragon shouted, jumping at least a few dozen feet into the air with one powerful leap. He flapped his wings furiously, rising higher and higher with every beat- high enough that Hiccup began to have a hard time seeing him. Eventually, the teen lost sight of Kairos altogether, when he disappeared behind a cloud.

For a few minutes, Hiccup watched the afternoon sky, wondering when the reptile would come down.

"...Did he leave?" the Viking asked out loud, even though nobody was there to reply. He still got an answer, and it came in the form of a faint whistling noise. Hiccup tilted his head, listening as the noise got louder and louder, and then he finally spotted it; a black speck in the sky, growing larger by the second. His emerald eyes widened dramatically in realization, and he threw his hands up once more. Unfortunately, Hiccup knew the attempt was doomed to fail when he saw sparks of electricity, and _not_ ice, shoot from his outward-facing palms.

"Oh _shi-_!"

* * *

Hiccup woke up to a dark sky, meaning that he had been asleep for a few hours. He launched himself into a sitting position, then wished he had never woken up. Everything _hurt_. Sure, he was no stranger to pain, but it had been a while since he had felt it on such an intense scale. Not since his fourteenth birthday, when his enhanced durability and super strength had suddenly made themselves known (the ice had been there since birth). In the year that followed, Hiccup was beat up, had accidents, and was attacked by dragons, the same as before. However, he could now fight back, without fear of dying. At least, not so easily.

So, to feel this much pain after a year _sucked_. His body had gotten used to being _not_ in pain, that it was a shock to his system.

"Urgh…" he groaned, fighting the urge to lay back down and simply waste away.

"Finally awake?" a voice asked off to his side. HIccup turned his head, wincing at how stiff his muscles were from laying on the ground. He caught sight of Kairos, who was nearly invisible in the weak moonlight. The only reason he could see the dragon at all was because of the crackling fire between them, which reflected off the Shadowstalker's scales.

"Yeah… What in Hel's name did you _do_?" Hiccup asked, climbing to his feet with some difficulty.

"I hit you with a plasma blast. Don't worry, though, I just hit the ground in _front_ of you. Otherwise, you'd probably be dead."

"Thanks _so_ much," Hiccup grumbled sarcastically. "Was that really necessary, though?"

"Yes. You called me weak, so I was simply proving you wrong. I see no issue," Kairos replied seriously.

"The _issue_ is that you almost killed me!" Hiccup cried, throwing his hands into the air exasperatedly. He hissed when his sore muscles were pulled.

"Isn't that what you humans do, though? Die a lot? Your kind is very weak, and doesn't seem to live for very long…" Kairos said, tilting his head thoughtfully.

"...I guess, yeah. But what do you mean, we don't live that long!? Eighty or so winters is _plenty_ of time!"

"Try living over a thousand, and then come talk to me," Kairos muttered, laying his head down on his paws.

Hiccup was shocked. A thousand winters was a _long_ time… What did someone do to fill those years? The young Viking got bored in five minutes- he'd go mad after a thousand years!

"Are you serious?" Hiccup asked, just to be sure. The teen got his answer from the way Kairos opened a single eye to glance at him. "Right, you're serious… How?"

"Like I know- I haven't ever seen another Shadowstalker, so it's not like I can ask one of them…" Kairos said bitterly. His emerald eyes widened, and he seemed to realize that he had revealed too much, because he turned his head away from Hiccup and the fading fire.

The teen was stunned. On one hand, he felt pity for the dragon, though he would never say it out loud. Being pitied was _not_ a great feeling. On the other hand, however, Hiccup was slightly excited to have found someone like him. Someone who managed to be lonely when surrounded by others. Then again, he didn't know that for sure. Maybe the Shadowstalker got on well enough with the other dragons that he didn't have to worry about it?

"Well… It could have been worse," Hiccup said slowly. Kairos' left ear flap lifted up, so the human knew he was listening, even if the rest of his dark silhouette remained still. "You live in a nest, don't you? With other dragons? Sure, you might be the only one of your kind, but at least you're not _physically_ alone, right?"

The black beast seemed to ponder that for a moment, because he didn't respond. Hiccup began to wonder if he had fallen asleep, when the reptile finally replied.

"It is quite the opposite, actually. I tend to stay away from the other dragons in the first place, because most of them are idiots, and are focused on eating, mating, and scavenging. When I _do_ hang around them… It's horrible, to see all those who are having fun with their hatch-mates and others of their kind. It just… Really drives it home, the fact that I probably will never be able to do the same, regardless of how long I live."

Hiccup was surprised by how much Kairos was sharing, especially with someone he had just met. Surprised, but also secretly glad, that he was trusted enough for that, despite their short time together.

"Well, if it helps, you're not alone. I know what it's like, to be lonely in a room full of people- though dragons probably have caves instead of rooms… Anyways, I get it. It sucks, to be around all those people, knowing that you're so… _Different_ , from them. That ice thing I was doing earlier- normal people can't _do_ that! I have to always be careful whenever I hang out with another person, because I can't just _slip_ and show them how _weird_ I am! I can't really be happy like that… And, maybe I don't know what it's like to not have a family, but I know what it's like to have one that's falling apart, and, honestly, I think that's a lot worse. My dad hates me, and my mom vanished a few years ago, and everytime I go down into the village, and see all those families, it just gets me _thinking_ , ya know? Like, that could be _us_! It's so _close_ , but at the same time, I can't _ever_ get there, no matter how hard I try! I have no clue where Mom went, and you can't just erase _fifteen years_ of _hate_!" Hiccup was shouting at this point, stomping around the dying bonfire, hands waving wildly in the air. His speech had taken on a tone of hysteria, and Kairos could no longer feign indifference. The dragon watched on in mute amazement, and slight horror.

"I'm not even sure if I _want_ that anymore, because it's literally been my _whole life_ , and I don't know if I'd be able to handle anything different! But that doesn't stop me from thinking about it, and that _hurts_ , because I'm torturing myself with so many _what ifs_ that one of these days I'm going to lose myself in those fantasies, then something's going to happen, and everything will fucking _shatter_!" Hiccup finished, roaring to the sky. The air around him was condensing into a frosty mist, and Kairos was shying away from the sudden drop in temperature.

Hiccup was breathing heavily now, his breath coming out in heavy clouds of chilled fog, and his fists were clenched tightly enough that the dragon could barely see blood dripping from between his fingers.

Sensing that his fit was over, Kairos slithered forward slowly, wary of if the lad's mood shifted suddenly. Fortunately, it didn't, and the Shadowstalker nudged the human's stomach with his nose. Hiccup glanced down, pulled from his inner turmoil by the sudden contact. He sighed heavily, rubbing a bloody hand on Kairos' head.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to lose it like that, it's just… I was trying to make you feel better, ya know? Tell you that I understand what you're going through…" the teen muttered, sighing once more.

Kairos purred wordlessly, rubbing his face against the Viking's midsection.

"Heh. Stop it, that tickles!" Hiccup said, pushing the dragon away half-heartedly. He didn't really have the energy to get mad, not after his emotional outburst. The winged lizard responded by licking the teen's hands, causing him to recoil in disgust.

"Ugh, Kairos, what the Hel!?" Hiccup cried, looking down at his saliva-covered palms. He noticed the red tinges, barely noticeable in the meager firelight.

"Wow… I was really angry, wasn't I?" he asked quietly, not really wanting a response. Kairos could tell, so he said nothing, either, simply resting his head against Hiccup's stomach, reveling in the head rubbing from the boy's free hand. He jumped when Hiccup yelped, however.

"What in Odin's name!?" Hiccup yelled, staring at his smoking left hand. Kairos, who knew what was going on, growled at the human for getting so worked up over something so small.

"Why is my hand smoking!?"

The black dragon rolled his eyes, taking pity on the youngling. "It's healing, you idiot. Aren't the cuts getting smaller?" he asked, since he couldn't see Hiccup's hands.

Hiccup focused more on his tiny wounds, as opposed to the smoke, and finally noticed that they had, indeed, vanished, along with the smoke.

"Oh. Well, that's… Useful? Did your spit do that?" Hiccup asked, and received a nod from the beast. "Cool. Nasty, but cool."

"Yes, very cool. Now, back to rubbing my head," Kairos commanded, jutting his head out for emphasis. Chuckling, the human complied.

They somehow ended up sitting down, Hiccup leaning back against the dragon's warm flank, feet near the fire. His hand was softly tracing circles on his new friend's head, who was purring contentedly.

Kairos stopped his gentle rumbling, though Hiccup didn't really notice; he was too busy staring at the fire, enticed by the dancing flames.

"You know, I did feel better after your little rant," the dragon murmured suddenly. Hiccup froze, caught off-guard by the confession, before he resumed his caressing, though noticeably slower than before.

"Did ya now?"

"Yup. I feel better, since I don't have to be so lonely. You're here for me now, aren't you?"

Hiccup pondered the question in silence, continuing to stroke Kairos' hard scales absentmindedly. It was strange to think about; a Viking and a dragon, two races that have been at war for hundreds of years, being friends. Hiccup knew that if anyone from the village ever found out about it, he would be killed. He wasn't the most skilled fighter, so they would have gotten to him eventually, regardless of his supernatural abilities. Then again, they all hated him, and he was miserable in that village, so...

"Yeah, I guess I am."

* * *

 **Bit slow, but hey, it's here. School started today, kill me. Luckily, it was a half day, and so is tomorrow, but urgh,** _ **school**_ **.**


	5. Chapter 5

The next day, Hiccup was working in the forge, taking care of the damaged weapons that he had abandoned the night of the raid. Gobber had been pretty annoyed, but the blacksmith knew he was partially to blame for leaving the boy alone. So, when Hiccup showed up this morning, he simply sighed and gestured to a bucket of weapons, the message obvious; _get to work_. Then, the master smith left, muttering something about needing to talk to Stoick, though Hiccup wasn't really paying attention.

So, here he was, slaving away at this _ungodly_ hour (the sun indicated that it was past noon), when someone who wasn't Gobber entered the smithy. He could tell, since this person's steps didn't tap against the ground like the blacksmith's peg leg. He glanced up from the sword he was straightening, and saw Astrid Hofferson. Her face was red, and her eyes were darting all around the forge.

' _Is she_ already _mad at me?'_ Hiccup wondered, amazed by her hair-trigger temper. Out loud, he asked "So, what do ya need?"

His voice seemed to startle the girl out of her thoughts, because she jumped slightly. Once she saw it was Hiccup who had spoke, she relaxed marginally.

"What do you mean, what do I need?" she asked in reply, thoroughly confusing Hiccup.

"Well, why else would you be here?"

"Maybe I just wanted to visit you," Astrid said defiantly, glaring at the lad, daring him to do something. He stared back blankly.

"No you don't- you hate me. So, where's your axe? I assume you want it sharpened or something?"

"Don't have it," Astrid said smugly. Hiccup sighed.

"Alright, so you're just wasting my time. Goodbye, then." With that, Hiccup went back to slamming his hammer down on the sword in front of him, though with a bit more force than necessary.

Astrid was stunned by the point-blank dismissal, but refused to leave. She was stubborn like that.

"What if I don't want to?" she asked, jutting her chin out. Not that Hiccup was paying any attention.

"Huh?" he asked, looking up once more. "Oh. You. Why're you still here?" he asked, irritation coloring his tone.

"I _said_ , what if I don't want to leave?" Astrid asked once more, a bit miffed about being forgotten.

Hiccup sighed in aggravation. "Well, I guess I can't really make you. But, if you get burned or something, it's not my fault, clear?"

Astrid nodded, clearly pleased that she had gotten her way, once again. She glanced around the forge, taking in the scenery, something she'd never done before. Usually, it was come in, hand off her axe, then leave and come back later. There were several weapon racks, each one full, with more weapons scattered about the place. Some were bent so far out of shape, the girl could scarcely tell what they were. Others seemed to be newly-made, with their gleaming blades and polished hilts. Tools were strewn all over the workshop tables. The furnace was roaring in the corner of the room, and Hiccup was hammering away at one of the two anvils.

Not really sure what to do, Astrid wandered over to one of the mostly-empty tables and sat down on it, simply watching Hiccup work. It seemed he was done straightening the sword he was working on, because he thrust it into a basin of water. The cloud of steam that exploded from the water made Astrid cringe. She could feel the heat, even from ten feet away, though Hiccup showed nothing on his face.

"Isn't that really hot?"

Hiccup glanced back at her, seemingly still surprised that she was here. "Ya get used to it," he said shortly, then walked over to the grindstone. He put his foot on the pedal, but suddenly paused. He stared at the contraption for a moment, looking back and forth between it and the sword in his hand. The, he glanced over at Astrid, who was looking curiously at him.

"You. Come here," he commanded, and Astrid found herself hopping off the table before she could complain. She walked over, and Hiccup pushed the sword into her hand. "If you're gonna hang around here, then make yourself useful." Then, he went back to the bucket of misshapen blades, pulled a few out, and shoved them in to the furnace.

Astrid was left staring at the sword in her hand, astounded that Hiccup could so casually push his work on other people. Said teen turned back to her when he didn't hear the sound of steel rubbing against metal.

"What are you doing?" he asked roughly. Astrid opened her mouth to respond, but Hiccup plowed ahead. "You know how to sharpen a sword, right? Just press on the pedal and hold the blade to the stone- simple stuff."

"I _do_ know how to-!" Astrid began indignantly, but was cut off.

"Then get to it," Hiccup said, voice deep and demanding. Astrid shivered a bit.

Normally, the blonde warrior would get angry, and turn whoever was ordering her around into a red paste. But, when she looked into Hiccup's narrowed emerald eyes, she found that she couldn't refuse. Or rather, didn't _want_ to. She squeaked in reply, and turned to the grindstone to hide her red face. Hiccup shook his head at her oddness, before turning back to his own work. He quickly glanced over to the area next to the furnace, where the new jobs were placed. It was packed with several buckets, each full of various weapons- oh look, there's that frying pan from the other day.

Hiccup groaned. Today was gonna be a _long_ day.

* * *

Gobber entered his smithy to a strange sight. Not of Hiccup pounding away at a sword; that was normal. What was _not_ normal was the Hofferson girl, sharpening a hatchet at the grindstone. She didn't even _have_ a hatchet, so what was she doing?

"I wasn't aware I had a second apprentice," Gobber said loudly, so that the teens could hear him over the furnace. Hiccup stopped his hammering, and Astrid stepped off the grindstone pedal.

"Gobber, you're late," HIccup told the Viking, who simply scoffed.

"Lad, when yer the boss a' yer own workplace, ya get ta come in whenever ye damn well please! That don't answer me question, though; what's Astrid doin' here?" Gobber asked, pointing his hooked hand at the fiddling girl. Hiccup lazily turned to look at her, and the girl blushed. Gobber raised an eyebrow at the normally brash shieldmaiden acting shy, but ignored it for the moment. He'd ask her about it later.

"She said she wanted to hang around, so I put her to work. I know how you get about idle hands- er, hand."

"Yeah, I was talkin' about _yew_. Ye can't just put random people to work in the forge, lad! Stoick'll have me head!"

Hiccup sighed. "Gobber, this is Astrid. Astrid, this is Gobber. There, you're acquainted now, so she's not a random person, is she?"

"That's _not_ what I… Forget it," Gobber finally said, throwing his hand and hook into the air. "Yew just make sure all those weapons are in _pristine_ condition. Should be easy, now that ye've got yerself a lil' helper. I'm goin' down to the Mead Hall, get meself some mutton, since yew look like yew've got things covered here. See ya tomorrow, lad!" Gobber said, then turned and walked out the forge before Hiccup could even complain.

Since the source of his aggravation was now gone, likely not even going to show up in the morning since he was so drunk, Hiccup slammed his hammer down on the anvil. The wood of the handle splintered, pissing Hiccup off even further. He tossed the hammer into a random corner of the forge, then slammed his fist down on the anvil. A meaty whack was heard, though it seemed like the anvil took more damage than the boy, since the metal bent inwards. That didn't mean the Viking came out unscathed.

"That lazy…" Hiccup growled, trailing off when something grabbed his hand. He looked down, and got an eyeful of blonde hair. "Astrid, _what_ are you doing?" he asked, voice gravelly and hostile.

Astrid almost backed up, but she tapped into her mulish stubbornness and stood her ground. Her voice was still small when she spoke, though. "I'm checking to see if your hand is alright, Hiccup. You hit that anvil pretty hard- I wouldn't be surprised if one of your knuckles was dislocated."

"I'm fine," Hiccup muttered, though he didn't pull his hand away. His mind was too far gone to really notice, thinking about just how typical it was for Gobber to abandon him these days.

Astrid continuously prodded at Hiccup's hand, her face steadily growing hotter. ' _It's from the heat'_ she told herself. The forge _was_ pretty hot. Astrid didn't know how Hiccup wasn't sweating.

After a moment, she found that she was correct, and one of his knuckles _had_ been dislocated. She looked up to tell the boy, and found him staring at her with such intensity that she averted her gaze instantly, face burning hotter than the sun above. The shieldmaiden forced herself to look up, and nearly flinched again when her pale blue eyes met his unwavering emerald glare.

"H-Hiccup," she stuttered, "You _did_ hurt yourself. I'm going to push it back in place, okay?"

The boy hummed noncommittally, and Astrid took it as a yes, doing her best to ignore the way he was staring at her. She placed both her thumbs on the side of his middle-finger knuckle, and pushed it to the left as fast as she could, to minimize the pain he felt. She was amazed when the boy showed nothing on his face- no indication that he even felt the movement. She knew from experience that dislocated bones, while not serious, were _very_ painful. After all, your bone had been knocked _out of place_ , and was probably rubbing against all sorts of things it shouldn't be.

Though her little job was done, Astrid remained holding Hiccup's hand for a lot longer than necessary. She rubbed her thumb on his sharp knuckles, which were so pronounced they almost pierced the skin. His palm was a mess of calluses and scars, resulting in his hands feeling rough as a tree trunk. His fingers were extremely long and thin, almost bone-like, and Astrid couldn't imagine these being the fingers of a blacksmith who was pretty good at his job. They seemed far too delicate and graceful, like they would be right at home on the hands of one of those painters from Trader Johann's ships.

Suddenly, those fingers curled around her roaming hands, and Astrid nearly shrieked. Luckily, she managed to muffle it, and she simply squeaked. Her head snapped up, and she locked eyes with Hiccup, who had apparently broken free of his trance.

"Are you done?" he asked, sounding amused. Astrid nodded slowly, and reluctantly let go. She took a few steps back, not looking at Hiccup for fear of revealing her blood-red face.

Hiccup ignored the weirdness that was Astrid, turning to examine the smithy. The area next to the furnace, where new jobs went, was mostly empty, save for a few swords. And the frying pan. He glanced out the window, which had been opened at some point, and the sun hanging low on the horizon.

"Alright, I think that's enough for today, Astrid. Thanks for the help. I can finish up the rest later, so see ya around, I guess," Hiccup said, moving to walk out the door. He was stopped by Astrid speaking up suddenly.

"Is it okay if I come back tomorrow?"

The boy paused, pondering the question. He didn't exactly know how to answer that. Sure, it was nice to have someone nearby, even if they sat in silence most of the time- it had been a comfortable silence. At the same time, though, why would Astrid Hofferson, most popular and respected girl in the village, the Valkyrie-incarnate herself, want to spend time around Hiccup the Useless? Surely she had better things to do, like sharpen her already perfect combat skills, or socialise with people who weren't village pariahs.

"Why?" Hiccup asked, not turning around.

"It's… Something to do, ya know? Sure, I can train, and I can hang out with the guys, but that gets boring. Plus, they're kinda idiots. I wanna do something… Different, and I think working in the forge is _pretty_ different, considering there's only two people in the town who know how to do it. Plus, I think it's a useful skill to learn. What am I gonna do if I need an axe repair when Gobber is out drunk and you're bogged down with work?"

Once more, Hiccup was silent. This time, long enough that Astrid began nervously fidgeting, twirling her blonde hair with her index finger. Finally, Hiccup spoke up.

"Alright. But I've gotta warn you, if you're serious about learning to smith, I'm not gonna go easy on you. Get it?"

"Got it!" Astrid replied, relieved that he hadn't turned her down, and quietly giddy at the thought of being around Hiccup more. She sped off past Hiccup, through the smithy door, and jogged along her way. Her head was filled with thoughts of Hiccup's thin, _long_ fingers, and just what they could do. The shieldmaiden knew she was going to be thinking about that all night long.

Meanwhile, Hiccup shuddered suddenly. He rubbed at his neck, which had suddenly become chilled, which shouldn't happen considering his affinity for frost. He wondered if he had just made a huge mistake, before shrugging it off. He wanted to go visit Kairos, and no stupid chills were gonna stop him from visiting his only friend.

* * *

 **Ooooooh, romance, spooky. Yes, Hiccup knows that he is much different from when he was younger; taller, stronger, more fierce. However, none of the** _ **others**_ **know that. They still see the same Hiccup the Useless, who does weird things, and messes up more often than not. Hiccup knows that, so he knows they still hate him. One of them was Astrid, and he doesn't normally talk with her, so he doesn't know how his change on his fourteenth birthday affected her. That's why he doesn't even entertain the notion that she likes him, he just chalks it up to her being weird.**


	6. Chapter 6

"What's it like, to fly?" Hiccup asked Kairos once evening. He had just reached their little cove after another long day of teaching Astrid in the forge, as well as completing his own work. Their meetings here had become a habit as of the last few days, and Hiccup thoroughly enjoyed it. He knew Kairos did as well, since the dragon kept coming back.

Said dragon lifted his head from the deer he was snacking on, muzzle stained with blood and bits of meat hanging from his retractable teeth.

"What?" Kairos asked, having been too enamored with his meal to really pay much attention. Hiccup sighed, exasperated.

"I asked, what's it like to fly? Ya know, to be so high up in the sky. How far can you see?" the teen repeated, taking a seat cross-legged on the soft grass.

"Oh... Well, it's pretty great, I guess. I can go places pretty easily, and the breeze feels nice, and... I can see pretty far…?" Kairos trailed off, unsure of what to say next.

"That's all?" Hiccup asked. Kairos stuck his tongue out at him.

"It's not that amazing to me, since I've been able to do it all my life! You try explaining to a fish what it's like to walk!"

The Viking was silent for a moment, pondering what he would say if he were ever put into such an odd situation, and came up blank. "Alright, I get it. Sorry," Hiccup apologized. The Shadowstalker grunted in acknowledgement, then returned to his dinner.

The human fell backwards, throwing his feet out from under him and stretching. An ungodly howl was released from his mouth, along with many pops as his joints cracked. With a relieved sigh, the boy relaxed, watching the orange-tinted clear sky. The sun was hidden by the tall trees surrounding the forest clearing, but the earth was still warm from hours of being baked by the sunlight.

As Hiccup lay there, his mind began to wander, following his gaze up into the sky. It would be _so_ cool to be able to fly. Maybe he'd even be able to reach Asgard, if he went high enough! Make it to Valhalla, find his mother- if she's dead, that is (He refused to consider the possibility that she had died a dishonorable death, not after all the stories he'd been told of her). Unfortunately, since the human couldn't fly, he was stuck on the ground fantasizing. Then again, he _did_ know someone who could fly…

"Hey, Kairos, how do you feel about letting me ride on your back?"

Kairos' jaw dropped, and the bony deer leg he had been gnawing on slipped out of his mouth. He stared at his human friend in disbelief.

"Did you _seriously_ just ask me that!?" the dragon screeched.

"Yeah! You said you can't explain what it's like, so why not just show me?" Hiccup replied earnestly, launching himself into a sitting position. His emerald eyes were sparkling.

" _Why not_ \- it's degrading, that's why! How would you feel if a rabbit asked to ride on _your_ back!?"

"I'd probably let it, because rabbits are pretty cute. Come on, what's the issue? Nobody's even gonna _know_!" Hiccup said, trying to persuade the dragon.

" _I'll_ know, and that's enough for me! I'm not carrying you around like- like one of those rolly _things_ in your village!"

"Those are called carts, by the way."

"Fine! I'm not carrying you around like a _cart_ , and that's that!" Kairos shouted with finality, then turned away from the Viking. A mistake, one that Hiccup capitalized on. The boy leapt to his feet, and in a single massive bound, covered the ten feet between human and dragon, landing on Kairos' back.

" _Hiccup_!" the dragon roared, uselessly firing plasma blasts around the clearing. He lashed at the boy with his long tail, slightly uncurled wings, and ear flaps, but to no avail. The teen simply took the blows, wrapping his arms and legs around Kairos' necks, tightening his grip when the dragon began bucking like a bull.

"Get _off_!" the lizard screeched, his breathing noticeable heavier due to his wild thrashing.

"No!" Hiccup cried, also feeling some exhaustion, "Not until you take me flying, ya toothless bastard!"

"Alright, you wanna fly!? Then let's _fly_!" Kairos shouted, launching into the air with his stout, yet powerful legs. They easily cleared the top of the bowl they were in, and the first wingbeat took them above the treetops surrounding the cove. A few more, and they were well over a hundred feet in the air. Hiccup loosened his arms so he could sit up straight, and looked around his new environment. He could see all of Berk with how high they were- so high, in fact, that even the Mead Hall, the largest building in the village, looked small. The evening sky, tinged with various shades of red, orange, and yellow surrounded them.

Once Berk was no more than a speck on the ground far below, Kairos stopped ascending, instead turning his efforts to moving forward, and the dragon was off like an arrow from a bow. Only, much, _much_ faster.

For the first few seconds, Hiccup was screaming in exhilaration, the wild winds lashing his face and buffeting his clothes. Then, his cries turned to horror, when he had a hard time hanging on to the Shadowstalker with just his legs. He had to lean back down and wrap his arms back around the dragon's neck, eyes shut to keep them in his skull. As such, he didn't see the white cone forming in front of Kairos, the result of massive amounts of air compressing in front of the beast, before Kairos sped up to the point that the cone was left behind.

Finally, Hiccup could no longer even hear his shouts. In fact, he couldn't hear anything at all, other than the rushing blood in his ears. He opened his eyes cautiously, then glanced around. He saw that Kairos' wings were still beating rapidly and the ocean was still rushing by below them, but none of it made a sound. The winds, which had previously threatened to deaf his ears and tear him from the back of his friend, were also absent; not only silent, but simply not there. Once more, Hiccup sat up straight, and found that nothing was trying to force him backwards.

"How is this happening!?" Hiccup tried to ask, but found that any sound he tried to make was ripped away.

"You say something?" Hiccup heard Kairos ask, then remembered that they could communicate mentally.

" _Yeah- what in Hel's name did you_ do _!?"_

"I went fast, that's all. This is just what happens when I go at full speed."

" _Really? Things get all… Silent, like this?"_

"Yup. Why, regretting your choice to hop on my back like an idiot?" the reptile asked smugly.

" _No way! This is_ amazing _!"_ Hiccup crowed.

Kairos grunted, slightly annoyed that his intimidation tactic had failed. "Well, _this_ won't be." The dragon stopped flapping his wings, instead flaring them out so they caught the wind, forcing the leathery membrane into a slight dome shape. Nearly instantly, hearing returned to Hiccup, and his ears rang from the suddenness. He was sure they were bleeding. That stopped being his main concern when, a moment later, the teen found himself tumbling through the air. He had loosened his grip during that silent period, and he didn't have large appendages to slow himself down at the same rate as Kairos. As such, Hiccup remained moving at nearly the same speed the two had been traveling just a second ago.

The teen tried to scream at the dragon for help, but the rushing air stole his breath from him, and he couldn't even squeak. Hiccup fell for what felt like an eternity, fear slowing down his brain function. He could see his arms in his peripheral vision, flailing wildly like fish out of water. He was tumbling, spinning head-over-heels, his vision switching between being dominated by the calm sea and the darkening sky. The sun was visible, reflecting off the ocean when he was right-side-up, while the moon cast a silvery sheen on the water when he was upside-down. It was entirely disorienting, and if Hiccup wasn't sure he was going to die, he would have enjoyed the scenery. After all, how many people got flung from a dragon's back and got to see something like this?

His panic lessened slightly when he saw a black shape falling next to him. Spreading out his limbs so he stopped twisting, Hiccup turned slightly and realized it was Kairos, who had dove after the boy to keep him from dying.

"Need some help?" the dragon asked cheekily.

" _Yes!"_ Hiccup shouted, both out loud and in his mind. Kairos actually grinned with his scaly mouth, something that Hiccup would have found funny literally _any_ other time. Unfortunately, his mind was currently somewhat occupied.

The Shadowstalker turned so his back was facing the human. "Well, you better grab on then!"

Hiccup managed to maneuver himself so he was purposefully upside-down, then leaned forward. He collided with the lizard and wrapped his lanky limbs around his neck. Once Kairos felt that the human was hanging on tightly enough, he spread his wings out- _slowly_ , this time. They leveled out a few feet above the ocean, their remaining momentum from the freefall giving them some speed, before it faded. Now, they were simply gliding, helped along by the occasional wingbeat from Kairos.

"That…" Hiccup panted, trying to steady his heart rate so that the organ didn't burst, "Was terrifying as all Hel..."

"You gonna try _that_ again?" Kairos asked mischievously. He was pleased he had scared the human, just as planned.

"Maybe if I can get a saddle or something on you, but until then, no way!" Hiccup cried, cringing at the thought of a repeat performance. The black beast below him crowed victoriously, and the teen swatted him on the head. An ear twitched backwards and slapped him in retaliation, and Hiccup sighed in exasperation. He didn't have the energy to keep that up.

"Let's just go back to Berk, bud," he told the dragon, sinking down to rest on his back. When he got no response, he nudged the flying lizard's side with his leg. "Ya heard me?" he asked. Still nothing.

Slightly annoyed, HIccup pushed himself up, then leaned forward, trying to catch the dragon's eyes. He succeeded, but did _not_ like what he saw. His friend's pupils were razor-thin slits, indicating that he was either enraged or threatened.

"Listen, Kairos, if you're mad about this, I'm sorry. I won't try to ride on you without your permission, okay?"

Kairos said nothing. Hiccup was beginning to get worried, so he tried to… Open his mind, or something, in an effort to hear his friend's unshielded thoughts. After all, Kairos had done it to him that one time, when Hiccup thought he looked cute, and the dragon had gotten mad about it. It _should_ work the other way around. Hopefully.

Concentrating hard, Hiccup did his best to block out everything surrounding him, all the noises and sensations. It took a few minutes, but the Viking finally managed to connect to Kairos' mind. At least, he _thought_ he did.

" _Come to me…"_ a feminine voice whispered, and while Hiccup had never really paid attention, he was fairly certain Kairos' mental voice didn't sound like that. The beckoning continued, repeating numerous times, and Hiccup severed the tenuous connection between their minds.

"What, is this a mating call or something?" he wondered out loud, still not receiving a reply. Irate, the boy slapped the Shadowstalker on the back of his smooth head, receiving an ear-swat for his troubles. It must have been instinctual, because when Hiccup checked, Kairos' eyes were still slits. Groaning to himself, he settled in for the ride. If this actually _was_ a mating call or something, the boy would never let his new friend live this down.

* * *

It was _not_ a mating call. Not unless Kairos was attracted to a massive dragon-eating monster that could easily a take a bite out of Berk.

"What in Hel's name _was_ that!?" Hiccup shouted, when they were back in the air above the volcano after a close call, which involved teeth bigger than Stoick the Vast and a mouth that could swallow a lake.

"That… Was the Queen."

"Okay, yeah, I got that she was like the leader or whatever, but _what_ was she? I _refuse_ to believe that she's a dragon! It's impossible!"

"As unlikely as it is, she _is_ a dragon. Do you think dragons would follow anything other than another dragon? Humans wouldn't follow a sheep into battle, would they?"

Hiccup grimaced. "No, I guess we wouldn't… Well, somebody might, but that's besides the point. Still, how can a dragon grow that big?"

"That's the thing about Queens- they don't _stop_ growing, so long as they have the energy required. What else do you think she does with all the food she has her minions steal? It doesn't go to _just_ filling her stomach, or she'd have exploded centuries ago!"

"So, what, she just eats all day and gets bigger? What's the _point_? Why does she need to get larger than that?"

"Well, normally, a Queen will grow to about three times the size of the largest dragon in her Nest, so that she is strong enough to physically assert her dominance- just in case some brat gets uppity and tries to challenge her, or if her mind powers fail. _This_ Queen, however, has gone mad with jealousy ever since she met one of the Kings. He defeated her with ease, but was kind enough to let her go, which was a huge mistake on his part. Ever since then, she's wanted to be large enough, _powerful_ enough, to subdue him and take control of his Nest. It's ambitious, but at the rate she's going…"

"Wait, so you're saying there's _more_ of those things!? And these Kings, their even _bigger_ than her!? That's- That's-!"

"Insane? Yeah, I know. The crazier thing is, though, that she still has a ways to go. If I remember correctly, the King she fought is still nearly twice her size, so…"

"No _way_ …" Hiccup muttered, in awe. Something twice the size of that Queen could probably just roll over Berk, and crush the entire village…

"Way," Kairos said grimly. "You humans are lucky, to have never encountered either a King _or_ a Queen- you'd have gone mad. How naive you are, thinking _I'm_ one of the most dangerous dragons around…"

Hiccup listened in silence, his mind racing.

"You know," the human said after a lengthy silence, "We're gonna have to fight her soon."

Kairos' wings froze, and he began to lose altitude before he caught himself. He instantly began to shout at Hiccup. "Are you _stupid_!? Didn't you hear a thing I just said!? We would _die_ if we tried to take her on!"

"No, you said if the _humans_ tried to fight her. _We're_ not humans," Hiccup replied defiantly.

"Obviously _I'm_ not, but what about _you_!?" Kairos screeched irritatedly.

"No clue- but since when could humans control ice?" Hiccup asked, blasting a flurry of snow in front of the dragon's face. Kairos shook his head, snuffling to get the frozen water out of his nose.

"Do that again, and I'll drop you."

Hiccup was tempted to do it, just to spite the Shadowstalker, but paused. He didn't really want to get his clothes soaked. Plus, this conversation was nowhere _near_ finished.

"Seriously though, we _have_ to kill the Queen. Berk, and the other Viking villages, won't survive much longer if we don't," he told the black dragon.

"The other humans aren't _my_ concern. And since when did _you_ care about _Berk_? I thought you hated the place?"

"I don't hate the _place_ … Just the people."

"What's the difference?" Kairos asked snidely.

"Listen, even _I'm_ not cruel enough to simply let them die if I could've done something about it. Sure, I might not be particularly _fond_ of them, but some of them are… Okay, well, not _innocent_ , just, not _as_ bad… Ugh, it doesn't matter. We're fighting her, end of story. Let's get back to Berk so we can prepare. We'll need to do some training, get stronger, I might make myself a sword-"

"Hiccup," Kairos interrupted gently, "Are you absolutely _serious_ about fighting the Queen?"

"Of course! What else are we gonna do, just ignore it and go about our lives, while we _know_ something that crazy is out there?"

"Even though we will more than likely die?"

"...Yeah? I mean, it's not like it really _matters_ , does it? You said you've been alive for over a thousand years, and never seen another Shadowstalker. You might be the last of your kind, and you won't be able to reproduce with another dragon- they're just too _different_! Why would you _want_ to continue with such a lonely existence? And what better way to die than in such an epic battle?"

"Well, I guess it _does_ sound pretty cool…" Kairos muttered, agreeing reluctantly. "What about you, though?"

"Hmm… I don't really have much to live for? No friends, no mom, my dad hates me- actually, the whole village hates me- and I don't really have any goals, ya know? No girls I've got my eye on, no lust for power, no need for conquest. Just… Nothin' to do. Nothin' to live for," Hiccup finished casually. He didn't sound very concerned about the thought of dying, and Kairos knew he wouldn't be able to change the human's mind.

"Ugh, _fine_! At the very least, though, we'll take her down with us- our sacrifice will not be in vain!"

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "That's the point, bud. Come on, let's get home."

The Shadowstalker sighed, knowing his days had suddenly become numbered. However, he couldn't really find it in himself to be very scared. There was no anger at the boy who had managed to convince him to do it, either. Sure, after a thousand or so years, the thought of not being around anymore was slightly unsettling, but that was about it. And maybe, just maybe, Hiccup was right. What _was_ the point in living on for so long, with nothing but faint hopes to look forward to?

At least death would be way more fun.

 **Red Queen Arc**

 **Begin**

* * *

 **This chapter also took a bit of time to get out. A** _ **whole**_ **weekend- shameful! Oh well, I should be more motivated once the action starts, which will be soon. What do you think about that little arc announcer note? I like it, it's pretty dramatic :P  
K bai :D**


	7. Chapter 7

"Hiccup, ya've gotten yer wish," Stoick the Vast boomed to his son, who was currently sitting in the back room- _his_ room- of the forge. Hiccup stared impassively at his father, not panicking in the slightest despite the man's abrupt entrance, as well as the saddle design sitting right in front of him. Stoick never paid attention to his son's crazy inventions, and that included the blueprints.

"Uh… Okay?" Hiccup said, confused. What was his wish?

"Dragon Training, starting tomorrow morning."

"... _When_ , exactly, was that my wish?" Hiccup asked, frowning. He honestly did not remember wanting this.

"Since you were a wee lad, of course! What Viking _doesn't_ want to step into the arena, to face those _demons_ in close-quarters combat!?"

"Not _this_ Viking, apparently. I think I remember what you're talking about, but lemme tell you, I _don't_ want to join Dragon Training anymore."

"What are ya talking about? Ya used to go on and on about getting into the ring- what do ya mean, ya don't _want_ to anymore?" Stoick asked, truly astounded that his son would refuse such a chance.

"I _mean_ , I got bored of it. Not really surprising, since everything's about dragons in Berk. I wanna do my _own_ thing, ya know? Something different."

Stoick sighed heavily. "Lad, ya've been _doin'_ things differently for far too long. _Look_ at all the damage you've caused! Dragons escaping left and right, buildings destroyed, food lost- Odin's beard, Hiccup, yer lucky nobody's _died_ 'cause of ya. Yer entering Dragon Training, and that's final!" Stoick bellowed. He dropped an axe and a helmet on the table, right next to the paper depicting the saddle for Kairos.

"Take good care of that, lad," Stoick told the teen, gesturing at the helmet, "It was half of yer mother's breastplate- matchin' set," he said, rapping his hairy knuckles on his own helmet,

Hiccup recoiled a bit at the mention of his mother's breasts, then turned to his father with a suffering sigh. "Do I _really_ have to do this?" he asked, as if his whiny tone would somehow change the Chief's mind.

"Yes."

" _Ugh_. Kill me," Hiccup groaned, flopping dramatically onto the table, using his flailing arms to covertly cover his incriminating sketch. It was better to reduce the risk of getting caught, regardless of how low the chances already were.

" _Relax_ , lad. If all goes well, it'll be the dragons doin' it. After ya've killed a few of the beasties yerself, mind you," Stoick said reassuringly- or so he thought- clapping his son on the shoulder. "I'll check in on yer progress when I get back."

" _Get back_?" Hiccup asked, wondering what he had missed. "Where are ya goin'?"

"To find the Nest- didn't I tell ya?" Stoick replied, as if it were obvious.

"No, you most definitely did _not_! Are you really sure that's a good idea? Winter is coming, and these expeditions _always_ fail!"

Stoick crossed his arms over his bulky chest, shrugging off Hiccup's words. "Hmph. I've got a feeling that this one'll be different."

"Oh, _okay_ , go ahead, jump on a boat and head off on a suicide mission. I'm _sure_ it'll work; after all, the _feeling_ told you it'll be fine."

"Enough of yer sass!" Stoick roared, "You'll enter dragon training, and you'll _not_ embarrass me!" With that, the not-so-stoic man stomped out, his heavy feet thudding against the wooden floor.

Hiccup rolled his eyes, moving the axe and helmet to the side of his table. Well, he could at least use the training to test his reflexes and level-headedness, if nothing else.

* * *

Morning came, and with it, another annoying thing.

"Welcome to Dragon Training!" Gobber the Belch yelled, gesturing grandly to the circular stone arena behind him. Hiccup, along with the rest of the teens around his age, had just entered the ring. The others were creeping along, obviously in awe of the legendary place. Hiccup was just moving slowly, like he always did whenever he was bored.

"No turning back…" Astrid muttered, loud enough for the other young Vikings to hear.

"I hope I get some _serious_ burns!" Tuffnut crowed.

"I'm hoping for some mauling. Like, on my shoulder, or lower back," his twin sister, Ruffnut, said thoughtfully.

"Yeah," Astrid said, agreeing with her fellow blondes, "It's only fun if you get a scar out of it."

Hiccup rolled his eyes. Honestly, the whole point of Dragon Training was to teach them how to _avoid_ things like that. The tallest teen didn't comment, however. He had no obligation to correct these morons.

"Alrighty, then! Let's get started- the recruit who does the best'll win the honor of killing a Monstrous Nightmare, in front of the _whole_ village! So, train hard, lads an' lasses. And Hiccup," Gobber told the teens. They were very excited to test their mettle against the beasts in those cages, and eager to prove their worth to their neighbors. The comment about Hiccup threw them, however.

"Oh, _great_. Who let _him_ in!?" Tuffnut whined, earning a laugh from Snotlout and Ruffnut.

"Yeah, Hiccup's already _killed a Night Fury_ ," Snotlout said mockingly, "So isn't he disqualified?"

Hiccup rolled his eyes once more- a well-practiced action, since he had been doing it nearly his whole life. He said nothing, however. It would take far too much effort to try and correct them, the thick-skulled idiots that they were.

"Behind these doors!" Gobber boomed dramatically, ignoring the immature snickering, "Are just a few of the many species of dragons you lot'll learn ta fight! Up first, the Deadly Nadder!" Gobber said, waving his hand at a door beside him.

"Speed eight, armor sixteen," Fishlegs muttered. The large lad's knees were knocking together in a mix of excitement to prove himself, and fear from being so close to so many dragons. He had always favored numbers, doing his absolute best to reduce everything around him down to statistics. Flying monsters were no exception.

"The HIdeous Zippleback!"

"Plus eleven stealth- times two!"

"The Monstrous Nightmare!"

"Firepower fifteen."

"The Terrible Terror!"

"Attack eight, venom twelve."

"Would ya _stop_ that!?" Gobber shouted at Fishlegs, causing the round boy to squeak in fright. Satisfied, Gobber turned to the last door. "And _finally_ , the Gronckle."

"Jaw strength eight," Fishlegs whispered, through Gobber still heard him. Said blacksmith sighed, then pulled down on the lever next to the Gronckle's cage. A wooden beam swung upwards quickly from where it had barred the door shut, locking into a vertical position with a heavy thump. It seemed that the dragon knew what that sound meant, because an instant later, a brown Gronckle had burst through the double doors, sending them flying to the side. Luckily, the hinges were strong enough to prevent them from _actually_ flying away. It was a close thing, though.

The Gronckle came out growling, then winced when the blazing sun hit its eyes. It had been cooped up in a dank, dim cage for so long, that it become accustomed to the darkness. The dragon adjusted quickly, however, and immediately began assessing the threat it faced.

"Woah, wait!" Snotlout shouted, voice reedy with panic, "Aren't you gonna _teach_ us first!?"

"I believe in learning on the job!" Gobber replied merrily, hobbling away to the opposite side of the arena.

Hiccup was not surprised; the blacksmith had done much the same to him, years ago, when he had been a wee lad starting an apprenticeship in the village forge. Rather than complain, the lanky teen simply sighed. He glanced around, examining the arena more closely, looking for anything to use. The only objects he could see were six shields, apparently one for each recruit. Hiccup sprinted towards the nearest one, which had a shoddy skull painted across the center. He kicked it mid-sprint, causing the wood disc to go flying, then bounce off the wall nearby. Hiccup caught it on the rebound, using his impressive-reflexes to loop his arm through the leather straps in one smooth motion, allowing the momentum of the shield to turn him around while still sliding backwards from his sudden stop. He ended up facing the Gronckle, crouching slightly so the shield covered the majority of his torso and the lower half of his head.

"That's the right idea, Hiccup! Whenever yer in a life-or-death situation with a dragon- which is always- you'll want something to help you survive. A shield is perfect for that!"

The other teens, who had been busy gaping at Hiccup's awesome maneuver, snapped out of their trances. They scrambled away from the center of the arena, where they had been bunched up in shock, heading for the first object they saw. While the others were gearing up, Ruffnut and Tuffnut began fighting over one of the two remaining shields.

"Get yer hands off _my_ shield!" the male twin shouted, yanking for all he was worth.

"No way- I saw it first!" Ruffnut yelled back, pulling with equal force.

"Take that one; it has flowers on it! Girls like flowers!"

Ruffnut, particularly angered by that remark, wrenched the disc out of her brother's grip with a vicious twist, then slammed it on his head. The male twin went down, but got up a moment later.

"Oops- now this one has _blood_ on it!" Ruffnut cackled, but yelped a moment later when the shield was blasted out of her hands in an explosion of splinters and smoke.

"Ruffnut, Tuffnut, yer _out_!" Gobber called, and the two twins gratefully scurried to the side of the arena. Once there, they continued their fight, away from the rest of the carnage.

"Those shields are good for another thing!" Gobber yelled to the remaining teens, "Noise! Make lots of it- it'll throw off a dragon's aim!"

The teens did so. Well, everyone except Hiccup, since he hadn't brought a weapon. He wasn't planning on killing anything, so it would only hinder his movement. Astrid slammed her double-bladed axe against her shield, Snotlout his mace, and Fishlegs his hammer. They did it with ease, since the handle of their weapons allowed them to hit the heads against the wood discs. Hiccup was still able to do it, with his long arms, but it felt awkward, so he stopped. It didn't really matter, since the Gronckle was still disoriented by the noise from the other young Vikings. He followed them as they all surrounded the beast, who was spinning uncontrollably.

"Speaking of aim, who knows how many shots a Gronckle has?" Gobber asked.

"Uh, five?" Snotlout asked, tossing out a random number, more focused on the dragon he was circling.

"No, six!" Fishlegs cried proudly, confident in his knowledge. Unfortunately, he had taken his eyes off the battle, and the dragon took that moment to snap out of its confusion. It shook its head to rattle its brain back into place, then fired a ball of lava at the large boy's shield. He was knocked on his ass, shrieking.

"Fishlegs, out! Keep yer eyes on the fight next time, lad!"

It seemed that Snotlout had not learned from his age-mate's failure, because moments later, he was very much so distracted.

"By the way, I'm moving into my parents' basement soon. You should come by sometime, to work out- you look like you work out," Hiccup's cousin said, trying to sound smooth. Unfortunately, it was ruined when he yelped a second later, a Gronckle blast ripping his shield to pieces. Not that Astrid had been very enamored, proven when she successfully cartwheeled out of the way of that blast.

"Snotlout, out!"

Astrid roll's took her next to Hiccup, and the teen saw his semi-apprentice's face turn red. He rolled his eyes, adjusting his grip on the leather straps of his shield.

"So, guess it's just you and me?" Hiccup said casually, staring at the dragon which was still flying free in the middle of the arena.

"Y-yeah, guess so. Isn't it fun?" Astrid asked weakly, red face turning darker. Hiccup glanced at her, but didn't comment on her weird behavior. He had more important things to worry about- like the fireball headed straight at him!

Squaring his shoulders and spreading his feet, Hiccup shoved his shield in front of him, leaning forward to counteract the force of the blast. Magma collided with wood, and Hiccup was pushed backwards, his leather-soled boots unable to gain enough traction on the smooth stone floor. Luckily, he only slid, and was able to keep his stance near-perfectly. Damn if that didn't hurt, though.

Hiccup shook his shield-arm, slightly surprised that the thing had stood up to the blast. The other ones had shattered, so Hiccup didn't know it was possible.

"Hiccup!" Astrid shouted, her voice panicked. The smoke cleared, and it was revealed that the teen was perfectly fine, ignoring the way he shook his arm and the grimace on his face.

"Focus!" the boy commanded, and Astrid found herself turning back to the matter at hand. Unfortunately, she was not like Hiccup, and could therefore not remain standing when a fireball slammed into her buckler. She toppled like a mug, her limbs flailing, trying to catch herself. She landed on her rear, dazed. Still, she was able to make out the orange glow which was steadily growing brighter; a second fireball. She screamed, raising her hands over her head to try and protect herself, since her shield was no longer on her arm.

A loud thud was heard, but when the blonde girl felt no searing heat or crushing pain, she opened her eyes. In front of her stood a pair of long legs, which led up to the slightly bent form of Hiccup. He had, at the last second, jumped in front of Astrid and blocked the shot.

She would never admit the fact that her heart wasn't racing from fear at the moment.

Hiccup, however, was thinking of different things. Mainly, the buzzing Gronckle in front of him, which had used all six of its shots. He exploded into a sprint, covering the ground between boy and beast in moments, making small turns to keep up with the swaying dragon. Soon, the Viking had caught up, and didn't slow down at all. Instead, he continued dashing, pressing his shoulder against the back of his shield, then smashing into the Gronckle. To the surprise of everyone watching, Hiccup actually _pushed_ the beast back, his small barrier protecting him from stubby claws.

Hiccup continued moving, the beast forced to go with him, until he had finally backed it up into a wall. Then, he ducked under the dragon, pulling his buckler down, then swinging it up into the gut of the Gronckle. Its eyes widened as the breath was forced out of it, and its wings faltered. Hiccup rolled backwards to avoid getting crushed, but then immediately leaped back, bringing the wooden disc around once more to bash the dragon in its face, knocking it out due to the sheer force. His buckler cracked as well, a thunderous sound that echoed throughout the now-silent arena.

Hiccup stood up, tossing his broken shield aside since it was no longer useful or needed. He brushed off his shirt and pants, breathing somewhat heavily. Finally, he noticed the lack of chatter which usually surrounded the other Vikings his age. He turned around, to find them all, including Gobber, gaping at him.

"...What?"

* * *

 **First day of dragon training, and Hiccup has whooped ass :O How was the action scene? Action-y enough, or sorely lacking? Tell me in reviews :P**

 **I don't think I'll go through the rest of the training in this much detail, since Hiccup has other things to worry about, so yeah.**

 **K bai :D**


	8. Chapter 8

"What do ya mean _what,_ lad!?" Gobber shouted, hand and hook waving about wildly, "That was _amazing_!" His prodigious gut now joined in on the act.

Hiccup glanced down at the unconscious Gronkle laying next to him. He poked its rough, scaly hide with his foot, then shrugged. "Right… Well, I've got things to do, so… Later, I guess," Hiccup said, pointedly ignoring all the slacked-jaw stares, and walked out of the arena with long, rushed strides.

The remaining recruits and Gobber simply exchanged looks with each other for a few long moments, before Gobber finally spoke. "Alright... Yew lot, meet me in the Mead Hall after the sun sets. We'll talk about yer performance, and I'll tell ya what comes next. Got it?"

The young Vikings nodded, and Gobber hobbled out of the arena. Once he was truly gone, the children erupted into chatter.

"Did you see how _fast_ he was!?" Tuffnut shouted, arms flailing to emphasize his surprise.

"Yeah- almost as fast as _you_ when you're running from a mouse," Ruffnut jabbed. Tuffnut growled, and his twin snarled in return. The blondes slammed their helmets together, then staggered away from each other, heads ringing.

"Ouch…" they muttered simultaneously, clutching their rattled skulls. They recovered quickly, then immediately got tangled up in another sibling-brawl. The other teens, unfortunately used to this sort of behavior, ignored it.

"Tuffnut's right, Hiccup _was_ fast- I wonder if he has speed eight, just like the Deadly Nadder? Hmm, nah… Probably more, like, speed five..." Fishlegs said, then devolved into quiet mumblings about the possible statistics of his age-mate.

Astrid sighed, glancing at the only other not-occupied member of the group; Snotlout. He had that cocky grin on his face, and his arm muscles were rippling as he continuously flexed.

"No," Astrid said the second he opened his mouth. She'd seen that look before, and knew from experience that it was always followed by some piss-poor attempt at flirting. Sure, Snotlout was _kinda_ strong-for a young Viking- but Hiccup was evidently much more powerful. Also smarter. Honestly, Astrid wondered, how could someone like _Snotlout_ be related to someone like _Hiccup_? And no, she did _not_ swoon at the mere thought of his name, and the way he had leapt in front of her, to protect her, and how _rough_ his voice was when he scolded her…

The blonde girl turned away from the put-out Snotlout, face red-hot. "I'll see you guys later. I've got...Uh… _Things_ , to do. Yeah." With that weak excuse, Astrid ran out of the arena, unnoticed by the other teens, who were each wrapped up in their own little worlds.

* * *

Astrid's _things_ revolved around finding and spending time with Hiccup, which was actually quite difficult. That boy could vanish whenever he wanted- an ability gained from being shunned for 90% of his life (the other ten was spent getting bullied or yelled at). He wasn't in the forge, and neither was Gobber, so she couldn't simply ask the master smith where his apprentice was. Not that she _would_ \- that would be mortifying.

And so, Astrid had no choice but to wait at the smithy. And wait. And _wait_. Finally, the young warrior got so frustrated that she grabbed her axe and walked out towards the forest. Sparring with trees usually helped whenever she was in a bad mood, and today was no different.

A lean-muscled arm chucked her axe through the greenery. The revolving motions of the weapon, the glint of sunlight hitting metal at the perfect angle, the blur of colors, was mesmerizing, regardless of the fact that she had seen it hundreds- _thousands_ \- of times. The heavy _thunk_ as the blade sunk inches deep into the gnarly bark was extremely satisfying, and Astrid pretended for a moment that it was an enemy warrior. Yes, a truly hulking man, running at her, log-thick limbs pumping back and forth, meaty arm drawn back above his head to slam his mighty hammer/mace/axe into the thin-framed girl, breaking her body with one powerful strike.

Unfortunately for this man, he had chosen to mess with _Astrid Hofferson_ , shieldmaiden of Berk, Valkyrie-in-training, most powerful female Viking in the entire archipelago- no, most powerful Viking, _period_. And she was _merciless_. A one-handed axe buried its way deep into his face, splitting his skull vertically. The blonde warrior rushed forward, brutally ripping her weapon from his cleaved face, resulting in a wave of crimson blood and brain matter, as well as a few bone fragments. Blood splattered against the girl, but was expertly ignored. She did a backwards somersault, to avoid having his mountain-like corpse fall and trap her, then spun on her heel. After all, in battle, one could never be too careful. Some enemies might not be honorable, and try to sneak up on you while you were distracted by one of their friends.

Astrid, trapped as she was in her war-fantasy, did not register that the person she saw was _actually_ a person, instead of a tree. That is, until her axe had left hands, and began spinning rapidly towards them.

The shieldmaiden let out a loud gasp of horror, but was unable to choke out any words of warning. In that dreadful moment, time seemed to slow down, and Astrid was able to identify who she was about to kill. That dark, auburn hair, that almost looked brown, the actually brown leather vest, green tunic, tall figure, pale skin, freckled face, and most of all, those _emerald_ _eyes_ , wide enough to engulf the sun.

She was about to cause the death of Hiccup, all because she had let herself get too caught up in a stupid game.

At least, that's what Astrid thought, until the lad simply reached up and caught the axe's wooden handle, as if she had thrown a simple pebble at him. The thunderous look on his face, however, showed the girl that he knew the difference very well.

He stomped forward, tucking something- it looked like a book, or something similar- into the inner pocket of his vest. Each step, while silent, shook Astrid's world. His rage was nearly physical, threatening to surge forward like a cloud of black smoke and choke the girl, his sharp glare anxious to rent her into pieces. To try and avoid such a bloody fate, Astrid began to walk backwards, speeding up until she was nearly jogging. She, however, did not have eyes in the back of her head, and bumped into a tree moments later. Her fearful hands pressed against the sudden obstacle, willing it to disappear, or maybe to move between her and anger-incarnate.

During her panic, Astrid had taken her eyes off the angry Viking, which proved to be a mistake. She looked up, and suddenly found that Hiccup was right in front of her. She squeaked, a sound which was ignored by both parties. Hiccup reared back with Astrid's axe in his hand- oh gods was she about to be killed by her own weapon!?- and whipped it forward.

Astrid had just enough time to close her eyes and hunch her shoulders, before a loud _thunk_ echoed throughout the clearing once more. Oddly enough, the noise was not accompanied by any significant pain, and it didn't _feel_ like Astrid's head had just fallen a not-so-great distance from her shoulders. She cracked open one eye and glanced down, relaxing slightly when she saw the rest of her body. She opened the other one, then looked up- and up- at the figure looming over her. He was _tall_.

The only thing Astrid could think about at the moment was how _close_ they were. She had imagined a moment very similar to this many times, though it usually involved less sharp objects, and a much softer mood.

"What was that?" Hiccup growled, his guttural tone sending shivers down Astrid's spine, snapping her out of her reveries.

"S-sorry! I didn't realize you were there, you're just so _quiet_ , and I wasn't really looking-!"

"So that makes it alright to almost _kill_ me?"

If she could have, Astrid would have backed up after that accusation. Hiccup's rage carried on his oddly-chilled breath, which brushed up against the trapped girl's cheeks. It paradoxically ignited a fire in her face. And somewhere much lower. The imagined heat prevented her from noticing when the temperature surrounding them dropped marginally.

"N-no! I swear, I wasn't _trying_ to kill you, I just slipped and you were just _there_ , and I'm _sorry_ , really!" Astrid cried, stuttering heavily, and she was trying very desperately to sink into the tree her back rested against. She would've never allowed herself to be this vulnerable around anybody else- family, friend, and most definitely not a stranger. Had anyone else tried this, they would've found themself with a few missing teeth, a fist in their face, and a greatly-reduced chance of having children. However, Hiccup was _not_ anybody else.

He _also_ did not like to be angry for long periods of time, or his control of his ice powers would slip- like right now, for example. That would lead to unfavorable events. So, with a heavy sigh (that once more caused Astrid to heat up at the unnecessary reminder of their proximity) Hiccup cast aside his ire.

"You do realize that, if I hadn't caught your axe, you'd surely go to Helheim for being a murderer, right?" Hiccup asked, now amused. He brought his right hand up, resting his forearm on the tree trunk, right above Astrid's head. He put his weight on the limb, leaning forward in a casual manner. Their foreheads were almost touching, and Astrid was rendered speechless. She simply nodded, desperately drinking in the sight of Hiccup's sparkling eyes. If she leapt for it, she could probably steal a kiss right now…

"Lucky you, I _didn't_ die, but still… I think punishment is in order," Hiccup said, his silky voice. His words flowed like water, and it was only the contents that saved her from being wrapped up in them.

"P-punishment…?" she asked breathily, astounded.

"Oh yeah," Hiccup crooned, leaning forward so he was whispering into the blonde's ear. The sensation was odd, yet not unpleasant.

"What… What are you gonna do?" Astrid asked, barely restraining herself from leaning forward into him.

"Hmm… You _sure_ you wanna know?"

Astrid nodded, strands of hair rubbing up against Hiccup's face, such was their closeness. She finally caught his scent; it was very similar to the forest, where the lad spent much of his time, which is probably why it took so long. There was also some smoke mixed in- not ZIppleback smoke, gods forbid. More like the smoke from a barbeque, the smell of cooking meat and charred wood- which was odd, since Hiccup was a blacksmith, not one of the cooks in the Mead Hall.

Then, suddenly, he was gone, taking his pleasant scent with him. The shieldmaiden heard a cracking sound behind her; the sound of wood being broken. It was familiar, since most of the structures in Berk were made of timber, and these things got broken. Whether it be because of a dragon raid, bar fight, or Hiccup field-testing a new toy, these wooden objects got broken in spades.

The Chief's son was now walking away, his back turned to Astrid. His left hand was swinging idly at his side, while his right…

"Hey…" Astrid called weakly, her shaky knees keeping her in place.

"Your punishment, Miss Hofferson; One week without your axe! Maybe that'll keep you from nearly killing anyone else. Bye!" Hiccup replied loudly, not bothering to stop walking. His voice echoed through the forest, bouncing off trees.

Astrid collapsed, her legs too weak to hold her up anymore. The blood in the limbs had all gone to her face, which was currently blazing like the sun and redder than magma. She was breathing heavily, as if she had just sprinted around the entirety of the island of Berk twice, without a single break.

"Not fair…" she muttered, voice lacking the same heat as her face. She was _far_ too absorbed in the memory of those emerald eyes, massive due to how close they were to really be angry. Maybe she should've taken the risk and kissed him while she could...

* * *

 **School is getting a bit more heavy now- nothing I can't handle yet, since it's only the second week, but either way I've had a bit less time and motivation to write. As such, don't expect anything wild from me anytime soon :P**

 **K bai :D**


	9. Chapter 9

"Can I have my axe back?" Astrid asked.

Hiccup, who had been looking out for the Deadly Nadder roaming the arena-turned-maze with them, turned to her. His eyebrows were furrowed in confusion. "Hasn't it only been a day? Also, is this _really_ the best time to bring that up?"

"Yes, because I need my axe to defend myself!"

"Nonsense," Hiccup replied nonchalantly, "Ya do just fine with a shield." He gestured at her shield with his own, then froze when his keen ears picked up something. It sounded like the heavy, laborious breathing of a yak. As far as the lad knew, the only animal around was the dragon, meaning…

"Move!" Hiccup shouted at Astrid, pushing her into a sprint. He quickly overtook the girl, despite her head start, due to his enormous strides. Astrid was left struggling to keep up, and nearly crashed into one of the fake walls when Hiccup took an excessively sharp turn. Fortunately, she only stumbled a slight bit, but it was enough to set her at least a few feet back in the mad chase.

"Why are we running!?" Astrid shouted, legs burning from the explosive takeoff.

"The Nadder was close- I could hear it breathing!" Hiccup yelled back.

A flurry of blue flashed in the corner of Astrid's vision, and she looked up- right into the flaming maw of the Deadly Nadder. With a shriek she would never own up to, Astrid dove forward, narrowly avoiding the beam of Nadder fire- the hottest in the known world. She was still nearly broiled in her clothes by the amount of heat the flames produced, but luckily, the temperature dropped quickly. Good thing Dragon Training was held near the beginning of winter, and that Berk was always so cold.

Turning her dive into a roll, Astrid launched herself to her feet, immediately breaking into an adrenaline-fueled sprint. Hiccup, who had paused to see what all the commotion was about, was now the one left struggling to catch up. Well, not really. He stayed about even with the much shorter girl, but looked for all the world like he was taking a simple stroll through the woods, as opposed to running for his life. He was even smirking, not that Astrid noticed. She was bit too terrified after her close call.

The Nadder roared behind the pair, then took off after them. It leapt above the top of the maze, using the pillars which connected the walls as perches.

"Ya know, I thought the whole point of the maze was for _all_ of us to be trapped," Hiccup commented snidely. He gestured to the reptile bouncing about over their heads. "But _this_? This is _obviously_ cheating… Hey, Astrid."

"What!?" Astrid cried, panting painfully.

"Think I can level the playing field?"

"Hiccup, whatever you're gonna do, _don't_!" Astrid hollered. She may not know the boy that well, despite her wishes, but she at least knew when he was about to do something dangerous and insane. Unfortunately, Hiccup ignored the girl, in favor of accelerating to an unbelievable speed.

The teens had been rushing down a corridor that was about the same length as the Mead Hall, which should have taken a good few moments, perhaps even half a minute, to travel at Astrid's terror-driven speed. Hiccup blazed through it in seconds.

However, that wasn't the craziest part. No, that came when, instead of taking the left at the end of the hall, Hiccup continued forwards. He leapt when he was a few feet away from the wooden wall, then, astoundingly, _bounced_ off the planks. By doing so, the lad had propelled himself to the top of the maze, literally levelling the playing field- just as he said.

With a mad cackle, Hiccup jumped at the Nadder, who was mid-leap, heading straight for him. He drew back his shield arm, ready to wallop the beast a good one.

"Hiccup!" Gobber shouted, too worried for his apprentice to even wonder what in Hel's name he was doing. Astrid was in a similar state, though her scream was wordless.

Hiccup once more ignored them, instead focusing on the confusion that was visibly evident in the Nadder's wide eyes and stiff posture. Fortunately for the dragon, it recovered, flapping its wings and gaining some distance.

Hiccup, however, did not have wings. He was _also_ not lucky enough to have landed on a pillar, instead setting foot on the finger-width wooden wall. Which he promptly fell off, and right onto his cousin. Talented though he may be, Hiccup was not blessed with the balance of a cat.

"Hiccup!?" Snotlout cried, almost startled enough to soil his breeches. He turned his eyes to the sky, as if watching to make sure no more cousins came falling from the heavens. Satisfied that it was not raining men, Snotlout turned his attention back to his cousin, who had climbed to his feet.

"Sup, Lout?" Hiccup asked casually, as if this was a normal occurrence.

"Oh, you know, the usual- just running around some stupid maze, when my cousin _falls_ on me. Normal stuff, right?" Snotlout retorted scathingly, his embarrassment from being scared turning to anger.

Hiccup merely raised an eyebrow at his cousin's flaring temper. "Right…" he muttered, then took off once more. He pulled the same maneuver as before, hopping up to the top of the maze, leaving a gaping Snotlout behind.

This time he slowed down a bit, choosing to observe the scene. The Nadder, thrown off by his weirdness, apparently decided to leave him alone. He watched for a moment as the dragon threw spikes and spat fire at one of the poor souls still stuck on the ground level.

"Oh, I am hurt! I am very much hurt!" someone shouted. Probably Tuffnut, which meant Ruffnut was close by. Despite how much they argued, they still stuck together, which Hiccup found odd.

His newborn thought was violently killed when Hiccup saw the Nadder jump back down into the maze. Curious, he leapt from pillar to pillar to try and get a closer look.

Down on the arena floor, Hiccup watched as Ruff and Tuff- whose hair was slightly singed at the ends- skidded to a halt right in front of where the dragon landed. For some reason, it wasn't attacking them.

"Every dragon has a blind spot," Gobber called down to the recruits. He ignored the way Hiccup was perched on the top of the maze, much like the beastie had been moments ago. "Find it, hide in it, and _strike_!" Gobber shouted, stabbing his hook-hand in the air for emphasis.

Unfortunately for the blacksmith, he was talking to two of the stupidest Vikings on Berk- and probably anywhere else in the world. Sure, they heard his words, and did their best to stay directly in front of the Nadder (where it couldn't see, due to having its eyes on the side of its head), but they soon got distracted by each other.

"Urf- do you _ever_ bathe?" Ruffnut asked quietly, as she got a whiff of her twin, who was much too close for comfort.

"Hey, if you don't like, find another blind spot!" Tuffnut replied, speaking at his normal volume. Which was pretty loud. Which _also_ alerted the Nadder, who began twitching its head side-to-side to try and see in front of it.

"How about I give _you_ one!?" Ruffnut growled, getting riled up. The twins began to jostle each other around, slapping and kicking and butting heads, but froze when the Nadder right in front of them roared.

"Blind spot? Yes. _Deaf_ spot, on the other hand? Not so much," Gobber told the teens. He seemed bored now.

Meanwhile, the Thorston siblings stood stiff in horror as a hissing sound emerged from the back of the dragon's throat. It was building up gas, which both blondes knew meant that the fire would be coming soon. Yet, they still did not move.

It was only due to the intervention of Hiccup that Ruff and Tuff weren't burned to ashes. The emerald-eyed lad jumped down from above, landing square on the Nadder's head. His weight forced the dragon's mouth shut before it could even register the action, resulting in the beast igniting the gas in its maw. With nowhere to go, the flame wreaked havoc on the innards of the blue reptile for a few seconds. Afterwards, it burped out a small cloud of black smoke, which smelled like charred rancid meat.

Dazed, the beast was unable to do anything when Hiccup slammed his shield rim-first into its nose, except collapse in an unconscious heap.

"Huh," Hiccup grunted, idly rubbing his hands on the dragon's nose, "Not so fireproof on the _inside_ , are ya?" While the lad pondered that in his head, he continued to stroke the Nadder's scaly nose, occasionally wandering up to its horn. The unconscious lizard purred under his ministrations, something the twins unfortunately noticed.

"Hey, why's it making that noise?" Tuffnut asked, craning his neck to see more of the dragon hidden behind Hiccup's tall figure. However, before they could move closer and investigate, Gobber interrupted them.

"Alright, kiddies, training's done for today! HIccup, drag the beastie back over to its cage, would ya? The rest of ya, find your way out of there, and meet me in the Mead Hall!" With that, the blacksmith hobbled away, the click of his peg leg muffled by the dirt pathway. Ruffnut and Tuffnut did as they were told, grumbling quietly to each other. They, surprisingly, didn't get into another fight, seemingly too distracted by something else, which never boded well for the rest of Berk.

Hiccup ignored them, choosing instead to complete his task. He walked around the Nadder, trailing his hand across its extremely shiny flank- _someone_ spent a lot of time maintaining their appearance- until he reached the tail. He grabbed the spiny appendage, careful to not prick himself on one of the toxic needles, which would have paralyzed him for the rest of the day, and pulled. A dull scraping was heard as the dragon's belly scales dragged across the stone, but other than that, the arena was silent. Since HIccup, being Gobber's apprentice, had helped set up the maze, he knew where the exits were, and as such was able to maneuver his way out without much difficulty. He gave the sleeping beast one last nose scratch, eliciting a contented rumble, then shut its cage nice and tight.

It seemed the other teens had made their way out, because Hiccup didn't hear their normally loud mouths. The lad wasn't even sure if Fishlegs had been there in the first place, since he hadn't seen the massive boy at all, except at the beginning of the session. Oh well, they didn't really matter.

It took a few minutes for him to navigate his way from the dragon pens to the arena exit- despite knowing the layout, it was still a massive maze- and then a few more to reach the Mead Hall. Inside, sitting at a wooden table next to the roaring bonfire in the center of the building, were the rest of the Dragon Training participants.

Gobber waved Hiccup over with his prosthetic hand, which was now a mug to hold ale. His other hand brought a leg of mutton up, and the blacksmith took a huge bite out of it. Grease was smeared onto his blond beard, though the man ignored it, taking a sip of his drink. Hiccup rolled his eyes, disgusted as always by the table manners of the average Viking.

Hiccup grabbed a plate of chicken legs from the cooks, then walked over and sat down next to Astrid, who began to fidget. He ignored her, instead taking a bite out of his first piece of meat. He was much cleaner than Gobber, if a bit slower.

The group ate in silence, since even the nastiest Viking on Berk knew that talking with their mouth full was not polite. Once done, Gobber let out a massive belch, which Snotlout, who thought it was impressive, tried to mimic. He turned violently red when a pitiful squeak came out. Hiccup also burped, though he muffled it with a closed mouth and a forearm over said mouth. That, however, didn't stop the other occupants of the table from hearing the deep rumble in his chest.

"Ah, excuse me," HIccup said with a puff to expel the meaty breath, aware that they had heard. Gobber raised an eyebrow, and Snotlout glared at him, but nobody commented.

"So, let's get down ta the discussion. First off, who can tell me what Hiccup did wrong?" Gobber asked, ignoring the irritated look from the lad in question.

"He fell on me!" Snotlout complained, gesturing to Hiccup. The young Jorgenson was still mad about that, apparently.

"Aye, that he did. So, Hiccup, care to explain what yew were doin' up there?" Gobber asked.

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "I was bored," he began, "Plus, that Nadder was totally cheating! I thought the point of the maze was for _all_ of us to be trapped in there!"

"Oh really? And _when_ , exactly, did I say that?" Gobber asked smugly.

"You didn't…" Hiccup muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Ya need ta learn ta listen, lad- not just ta what's being said, but also ta what _isn't_. Understand?"

"Ugh, _fine_. Can I go now?"

Gobber eyed the irritated teen for a moment, considering the question. If he allowed the boy to leave, then the blacksmith wouldn't have to deal with his whining, but an unsupervised Hiccup…

"Alright, go," Gobber told Hiccup, wincing slightly when his apprentice's face lit up into a broad grin. The son of Stoick leapt up and raced out the mead hall, and the blacksmith was left wondering if he had made a huge mistake. He shrugged off the feeling, his aged mind crowing in delight at the longing look on Astrid's face, as she watched the massive wood doors of the hall. Oh, the fun that could be had...

* * *

Hiccup was relieved to finally be alone. He rushed over to the forge, igniting the furnace and scrounging up some sheets of leather and pieces of metal laying around the workshop. He had a saddle to make.

It would need hand-holds, and feet strap for when he got tired of consciously gripping the handles. It wouldn't be that thick, since Kairos' scales weren't sharp enough to cut anything- they were just uncomfortable. There would be a thin frame of iron in between the layers of molded leather, to held the saddle keep its shape, as well as provide a bit of durability.

It took him long into the night, heating and hammering into shape, sewing together the leather- something he learned from having to make his own clothes after his ridiculous growth spurt- and stitching on the accessories.

Finally, when the moon hung directly above Berk, Hiccup iced the furnace, his work done. He ran a hand over the edges of his creation, ensuring that the metal frame was completely covered, as well as checking to see if his needlework needed some touching up. Luckily, it did not, so he was truly done. Stashing the saddle under the table in his back room, since nobody ever looked there, Hiccup left the smithy with a broad smile on his face.

The smile vanished when he nearly tripped over something the instant he stepped outside. Looking down, the boy's confusion skyrocketed once he realised he had not tripped over a large rock or something, but a _person_.

Blonde hair, spiky skirt, blue tunic- yup, it was Astrid. Now, the only question left; what in Hel's name was she doing sleeping outside the forge?

* * *

 **Abrupt ending, but idgaf. I needed to get this out so I could stop agonizing over it. It's been two weeks, which is insane, so sorry. Not much story progress; the Nadder has been defeated, and the saddle was made (sorry if the process seemed so simple, I am neither a leatherworker nor a blacksmith :P). Next chapter, we'll begin using the saddle, so expect some antics, and some Hiccstrid fluff.**

 **K bai :D**


	10. Chapter 10

Hiccup was unsure how best to approach this situation. Astrid Hofferson, one of the most respected people in the village (at least, for those under the age of 20), was sleeping outside the forge like some type of homeless person. Which confused Hiccup, because he was fairly certain she wasn't homeless. So, he did the logical thing; he kicked her.

Well, he didn't _actually_ kick her, or she would have gone flying like a ragdoll, but he did nudge her with his foot none-too-gently.

"Huh? What?" the girl asked blearily, rubbing at her crusted eyes.

"I should be asking you that," Hiccup said dryly. "What in Hel's name are you doing?"

"What?" Astrid asked once more, still dazed.

Hiccup sighed, annoyed. He knelt down to be at about eye-level with the girl. "I mean, what are you doing _sleeping_ in front of the _smithy_? Are you daft?"

"Hiccup!?" Astrid shouted suddenly, just realizing who was talking to her.

" _Yes_."

Astrid's face exploded with heat. She shot to her feet, and immediately fled into the village. Hiccup watched her from his kneeling position, and sighed once more.

"That girl is so troublesome…"

He pushed down his irritation for the moment, since he had no target. Later, however, Hofferson would feel his wrath. Maybe he'd withhold her axe for longer than the planned week? That was probably what she was here for.

Whatever. It was late, and Hiccup wanted to sleep.

* * *

"Kairos, I finished the saddle."

"So?"

" _So,_ that means we can practice flying."

"I don't know who you're gonna practice flying in a saddle with, but it's not me."

"Yes it is, ya big baby. How else am I supposed to help you when we face the Queen?"

"Who says I need help?"

"Um, maybe the way you were panicking when we saw her?"

"... Fine, put the blasted thing on me. But, I'm not responsible if you fall off!"

"Then I just won't fall off."

* * *

Kairos was rather annoyed. Hiccup had this irritating penchant for being right a lot of the time, and this was just another one of those moments. The lad _didn't_ fall off the saddle, and had instead somehow figured out that leaning side-to-side would cause the Shadowstalker to go that direction due to some unknown instinct. He was not meant to be controlled!

"Are you seriously still pouting over that?" Hiccup asked incredulously. Kairos turned away from him with a huff.

"I don't _pout_!" the dragon replied haughtily.

"Fine- are ya done _sulking_ yet? Ya big baby…" Hiccup muttered, rolling his eyes at his friend's pride.

Kairos sniffed. "No. Now go fetch me some fish, slave."

The teen raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me, aren't you the self-proclaimed King of the Skies? You're tellin' me that the big bad Shadowstalker can't hunt?"

"I _can_ hunt! I just don't feel like it," Kairos responded indignantly.

"Uh-huh. So you're just lazy."

Kairos didn't dignify that with a response.

* * *

"I need a weapon," Hiccup muttered to himself.

"Oh? What for?" Kairos asked, curious. Weren't his ice powers enough of a weapon?

"i don't really know, but it just feels… _Wrong_ , to not have one. Especially when I'm about to go into the fight of my life. I need to leave behind _something_ as part of my legacy, other than my corpse."

"Well, then make one. You're good with that sort of stuff, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but… I don't really want to use steel. It might be useless against that massive Queen- her skin looked pretty hard, and I can't have my weapon snap in the middle of the battle. That's bad etiquette, ya know?"

"You're worried about _manners_ in a deathmatch!?" Kairos asked, still baffled by how casual Hiccup was when talking about his own death. The boy had zoned out, however, so he didn't hear lizard's shocked exclamation. The dragon simply huffed at being ignored, and laid down to take a nap.

* * *

"Today, is about teamwork. Work togetha, and ya just _might_ survive!" Gobber shouted gleefully, watching with demented joy as the dragon arena filled with green gas.

All six teens were present today, each carrying a bucket of water.

"Now, a wet dragon head can't light its fire. The HIdeous Zippleback is _extra_ tricky; one head breathes gas, the other one lights it. _Your_ job, is to find out which is which!"

The young Vikings were standing in pairs of two, back-to-back, circling around in an attempt to find the Zippleback. The noxious fog was making that rather difficult, and Hiccup wished he could be anywhere else right now. Unfortunately, he needed to attend Dragon Training, or Gobber and his dad would bug him to no end. So, the lad simply sighed, and played along.

At his back was Astrid, whose attention was split between looking out for the dragon, and eyeing her axe, which was on his back. Hiccup noticed, and smirked cruelly.

"Hey, Astrid?"

The girl's face turned red, and she became noticeably more twitchy. "Y-yeah, Hiccup?" she answered weakly.

"Your punishment has been extended by another week."

"W-what!? Why!?" she cried, the red bleeding out of her face, taking all color along with it.

"For running away yesterday- that was really annoying. What were you doing in front of the forge anyways?"

"I, uh. I- I was…" she muttered, hesitating.

"You were…?" Hiccup prompted.

"I was… Looking for you?" she finally squeaked.

"What for?" Hiccup asked, now genuinely curious.

"I wanted to… talk, to you."

"What about?"

Here, Astrid stopped circling, legs freezing up from nerves. Hiccup didn't notice until he bumped into her diminutive frame, causing her to spill a bit of water from her swaying bucket.

"Um… Uh, about… About, how you took down that Nadder! Yeah…" she said, chuckling nervously.

Hiccup turned the statement over in his mind. "Oh, yeah, I guess you weren't there to see it…"

"Yeah!" Astrid cried, gratefully clinging to the excuse like it was a lifeline.

"Whatever. We can talk later. Right now, there's kind of a dragon in here, so…"

Astrid nodded furiously, shutting her mouth in relief. She didn't know if she would have been able to keep talking.

The Zippleback chose this moment to creep out of the poison cloud, revealing a single head. It stared menacingly at Hiccup and Astrid, neck swirling in an intimidating manner. Astrid's eyes widened, and she clutched her bucket of water tighter, knuckles losing color. Hiccup fixed his gaze on the dragon as well; specifically, on its mouth.

"Don't throw your water yet- we don't know which head this is," Hiccup warned his companion. She nodded and made a noise of confirmation, struggling against every instinct which screamed to attack.

The Zippleback head snaked a bit closer to them, before it finally opened its mouth and sprayed a jet of green gas. Astrid relaxed marginally, but then tensed up even more when she realized that she now had to watch out for the other head, which had yet to reveal itself.

"I'll keep an eye on this head. You look for the other," Hiccup commanded her. Astrid did so, managing to tear her eyes of the beast which was right in front of her. Her blue eyes scanned the obscured arena, looking for any hint of the second dragon head in the sea of green.

Finally, it appeared, slithering out the smoke like a wraith- though much more solid.

"Hiccup!" Astrid hissed, nudging the taller boy with her shoulder. He turned his head slowly, ensuring that the gas-spewing head remained in his peripheral vision, and caught sight of the other Zippleback head. Presumably, the one which lit the gas.

"Good job, Astrid. Now, we'll have to act quick, so the dragon doesn't get a chance to light the gas. Think you can create a distraction, while I rush the sparker?"

Astrid glowed under the small praise, but hardened her face soon after. "What should I do?"

"Maybe attack the gas head?" Hiccup said noncommittally. Astrid ran through a mental simulation of that scenario quickly, before deciding that it would likely be the quickest way to do this. With a determined nod, Astrid rushed forward, then tossed her bucket of water at the first head that had appeared. Water flew and splashed over the Zippleback's head, seemingly startling it. The beast shook the water off, then eyed Astrid maliciously. It almost seemed as if the lizard was smiling cruelly, which disturbed Astrid to no end.

The second head had its attention caught by Astrid's maneuver, and watched as its counterpart crept closer. Unfortunately for the dragon, it had lost sight of the one who was truly dangerous. In a sudden shock of cold, the dragon was reminded of Hiccup's presence as its head was drenched. Instinctively, it opened its mouth and attempted to create a spark, but nothing happened.

It was Hiccup's turn to grin maliciously now, as he leapt forward and delivered a brutal haymaker to the beast, causing it to snap sideways. The other head, alerted to its companion's pain, reverted to a primal mindset and screeched, before lashing out at Astrid.

The girl had quick reflexes, however, and narrowly avoided the thick neck by rolling to the side.

"Hiccup!" Astrid shouted, alerting the lad to her predicament. Making a split-second decision, Hiccup unlatched the axe on his back, and threw it at the Zippleback head which was furthest from him. The weapon crashed into it, blunt-side first, and interrupted its latest attack on the blonde. Astrid scrambled forward, picking up the hatchet from where it landed after bouncing off the dragon, then rolled to her feet. Axe at the ready, Astrid sidestepped carefully, keeping a keen eye on the dragon head in front of her. Noting the way its muscles tensed and coiled, she was able to predict when the beast would attack, therefore allowing her to dodge by a comfortable margin.

After one lunge, when the Zippleback had been a bit slow pulling back, Astrid leapt forward and sliced with her axe. The blade bit through the scales and into the skin, drawing thick, crimson blood. The dragon shrieked, more in shock than pain, and blew a jet of green gas right into her face.

Caught off-guard by the unorthodox tactic, Astrid backpedaled unsteadily, flailing her arms in an attempt to disperse the fog. The dragon, recognizing its prey's instability, took advantage and lashed out. This time, its neck slammed into Astrid's side with a powerful stroke, sending the small girl across the arena and into the stone wall. She bounced off slightly, and fell to the cold floor in a pile. Astrid struggled to get up, but only managed to get her shoulders off the ground before a searing pain in her chest took precedence.

Hiccup, busy weaving around and slapping his own Zippleback head, heard Astrid's loud gasp as she discovered the extent of her injuries. Turning to her, Hiccup found himself falling victim to the same attack which took Astrid out of the fight, and coincidentally landed right next to her. However, he was made of sterner stuff, and leapt to his feet with a growl.

He was against the clock now; the sparker head may be drenched right now, but it would dry soon enough, and then they would be in trouble.

"Astrid!" Gobber shouted from above, only now managing to peer through the toxic haze and see what had happened to one of the teens in his care. Stoick would have his mustache!

Hiccup warily watched his foe, the Zippleback crawling closer to him and Astrid. The girl was groaning in pain, so he would have no help from her. Fighting two heads would be difficult, though, so he would need to be careful. With their long, snaking necks, they would be dexterous, and their shared-ish mind would allow them to coordinate incredibly well.

Hiccup ran forward towards the head with the bleeding gash on its neck- probably the smoker, since Astrid had been the one with a sharp weapon- and jumped at it. The dragon wasn't expecting the smaller creature to be so aggressive, and was unprepared for the devastating punch to the nose which had it seeing stars. The sparker cried out as the pain was shared between the heads.

Pressing his advantage, the auburn-haired teen came close, and grabbed the smoker by the massive horn on its head. With the dragon unable to retreat, Hiccup reared back, and slammed the Zippleback with another incredibly powerful punch. This time, the dragon _did_ pass out, flopping to the floor like a fish. The sparker roared, coiling up then striking out with the speed of a lightning bolt. Hiccup kicked off the ground, sidestepping the quick thrust, giving the beast a kick to the side for its troubles in the same motion. He stumbled a bit before regaining his footing, while the lizard shook itself to get rid of the sudden bout of dizziness.

Screeching at him, the sparker seemed to realize its head had dried off, and immediately opened its mouth. White-hot sparks poured out of the gaping maw, but did nothing other than create a pretty light show. Confused, the Zippleback glanced around, before its slitted-eyes widened in panic; the gas had dispersed during the fight, and the smoker had been knocked out!

With no other choice, the dragon head returned to the tried-and-tested method of old; bite the thing until it died. With a snap, the neck extended faster than before, leaving Hiccup unable to dodge. With the wide jaws ready to snap shut on him, the lad did the only thing he could think of- he caught the beast.

Well, he tried to, at least. It was easy to block the lower jaw, with its incredibly large teeth. Fortunately, they weren't sharp all around, so he only had to catch the smooth base. The issue, however, were the top teeth. Those were much smaller, and the Chief's son had been unable to properly catch one. He ended up getting his arm pierced by two of them, but managed to ignore the pain. The Zippleback, realizing it was in a disadvantageous position, attempted to pull back, but Hiccup used his grip on the bottom tooth and superior strength to keep it firmly locked in place.

The dragon began to buck wildly, to no avail, before attempting to use its crackling breath on the boy. Sparks washed over Hiccup, causing him no small amount of discomfort. He couldn't use his ice here, as the heat from the Zippleback would cause it to melt rapidly and steam up. That might lead to unwanted questions.

So, with a bellow of rage- and a mouthful of sparks- Hiccup slammed the Zippleback head onto the stone floor, shattering its concentration. He did it twice more for good measure, causing the dragon's teeth to gnash together painfully, as well as knocking it out.

Panting heavily, Hiccup finally let go of the dragon's yellow-stained teeth, and putting some space between himself and the unconscious beast.

"Hiccup! Are ya alright, lad!?" Gobber shouted, finally having gotten down to the arena pit. Hiccup, out of breath, and slightly smoky, just gave the smithy a thumbs-up. Gobber nodded back, before focusing on Astrid, who had passed out at some point. There was no blood that the man could see, but that didn't stop him from worrying. Internal injuries were probably more dangerous.

"Get Astrid ta the Gothi- that hit didn't look too good. I've got ta take care of the others."

Hiccup nodded, walking over and gathering the girl up in his arms, with one under her knees and the other supporting her back. She moaned slightly at his roughness, so Hiccup slowed down slightly, but still walked with haste.

Odin's beard, today had been eventful.

* * *

Astrid's back hurt. So did her chest. And her head… And just about everything else, for that matter. What in Hel's name had happened to her?

There was… Dragon Training. And they were fighting the ZIppleback today, right? She had paired up with Hiccup, and they got attacked by both the heads… And then one of them hit her really hard, or something like that.

Now, she was in a somewhat large room, lying on a cot, staring at the greywood ceiling above her. This definitely wasn't her home, since that was made of brown wood. The only places in the village made of greywood were the Chief's house and the Gothi's hut. That made sense, since the Gothi doubled as the resident _volva_ and healer.

Why was Hiccup here, then? Said teen was sitting in a chair facing the bed Astrid was in, arms crossed with his head hanging, chin resting on his broad chest. He was tall enough that Astrid could still see his face, and she spent a while simply staring at his sharp edges and soft freckles.

Eventually, she let out a slightly dreamy sigh, which unfortunately woke the lad. On the bright side, she _did_ get to see his striking emerald eyes, and was barely able to resist the urge to sigh again.

Hiccup looked slightly confused, but after a few glances around the room, seemed to remember where he was. He settled back into his chair, which he had halfway-risen from, and turned his piercing gaze on Astrid.

"How do you feel?" he asked, voice gravelly from sleep. The sound sent shivers down Astrid's aching spine.

"Um… Everything hurts, but I don't think I'm dying?"

Hiccup nodded, like he'd expected as much. "Right. The Gothi said you cracked a few ribs, and your back is gonna be bruised pretty bad for a few days. Lucky you, you get off Dragon Training for at least a week, depending on what Gothi says."

"Lucky!?" Astrid shrieked, shooting up then immediately regretting it. She ignored it for the moment, however. "I can't miss _Dragon Training_! How else am I gonna learn to fight?"

Hiccup raised an eyebrow at her, sliding down slightly in his chair. "I don't know, but it'll probably be a lot easier if you _don't_ have crack ribs," he said dryly.

Astrid calmed down slightly, embarrassed at getting so flustered in front of the stoic boy- like father, like son. The blonde narrowed her eyes slightly, as she finally registered what he had said.

"Why do you sound like you'd rather not be part of Dragon Training? Isn't this what you wanted for, like, your _whole_ _life_?"

Hiccup tilted his head sideways, pondering the question. "Well, it's kind of a waste of time? Besides, I don't want to do it anymore, but Dad forced me into it. He's annoying like that."

"A waste of-!?"

"Shut up."

Astrid's mouth closed with an audible _click_. Hiccup ruffled his hair with a hand, and sighed tiredly.

"Man, you're kinda annoying too."

Astrid opened her mouth to retort, but stopped once more when the boy held up a hand.

"You need to rest. You're injured, and the Gothi is probably gonna wring my neck if you strain yourself 'cause of me. Go to sleep."

Astrid drew in a breath, ready to fight against him. The pain was irritating her, which is where she was getting the courage from. Otherwise, she'd have probably melted into a puddle by now.

Seeing what was happening, Hiccup gently clamped a hand on Astrid's mouth before she could open it. "No fighting," Hiccup said, pushing her back until she was lying down, easily ignoring her struggles with his incredible strength.

Astrid was only able to focus on his warm, calloused hand. She was suddenly struck by a wave of exhaustion, and decided that _maybe_ a nap wouldn't be a bad idea. Relaxing her muscles, she laid back and let sleep overcome her. She was unconscious in moments.

Hiccup sighed again- something he had been doing a lot lately- and withdrew his hand. This girl…

Whatever. He had things to do, which did not include watching somebody sleep like a creep.

* * *

 **Bruh. Everything sucks right now. Schools obnoxious, and I have to quit Track cuz I have neither the will nor the energy to do it. I can barely get through six hours of school, I'm not going to be able to handle two more hours of practice.**

 **Also, chapter count for this story is** _ **finally**_ **in double digits! :)))))**

 **K bai :D**


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